


Injustice

by say_im_good



Category: VIXX
Genre: Catboy AU, Enemies to Lovers, Hate to Love, Hybrid AU, M/M, Slow Burn, faunus rebellion, overlying story about fighting discrimination, sort of kind of a war au?, various cameos from other kpop people
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2018-11-04 08:00:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 19
Words: 75,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10986783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/say_im_good/pseuds/say_im_good
Summary: The faunus, people mixed with animal traits, are a race oppressed by the humans. One day, a mysterious leader going by the name 'N' steps up to lead a rebellion to earn their freedom back, but has to face the enemy general, Leo, to succeed. This is the story of the hard fight that comes with battling oppression, the confusion that radiates around morals, and the injustice of the world.





	1. Chapter 1

The wall shook violently with earsplitting blasts from all directions, and the air was hot and dry with smoke. His throat was dry and his heart was racing. This was what he lived for.  
   
"Hongbin, keep shooting at their front lines! Ken, take the mech and try to get to the lieutenant! We take him out, the whole squad's done!"After getting the okay from his fellow fighters, N dove forward, pressing his back against the wall and leaning around it, firing off his gun at full pace. A few soldiers dropped in the distance. He could see nearby that Ken was making quick work in his mech, and Hongbin's firing skills were nothing short of perfect. Everything was working out great.   
   
The sun glared down on the improvized battle field, illuminating the dust and smoke to make a glinting haze. Thr grass was fried and even on fire in some places; The fight had been going on for about an hour now in full intensity.   
   
N felt air whoosh past his helmet and heard Hongbin shouting 'Be careful!' into his earpiece. He laughed at his friend's stern tone. "Glad you still worry about me," he replied playfully. Hongbin simply scoffed before returning to his fight.    
   
Suddenly though, the enemy was retreating. "Fall back!" The enemy lieutenant was shouting, waving his arms as he watched more and more of his soldiers fall. "It's about damn time!" Ken whooped, chasing a few soldiers across a dried riverbed as they hurried after their lieutenant. N chuckled at his enthusiasm before calling out his own announcement. "We've won this one, boys! Lets go back to base!"  
   
Two hours later, Hongbin, N, and Ken sat in their small, makeshift meeting room, celebrating their victory. "So, the fight went well today. Good job, everyone!"   
   
Hongbin rolled his eyes, though his smile was still evident through his attempt to hide it. "Hyung, we know we did good without you having to tell us. Did you SEE that lieutenant's face?" The boy laughed, his smile beaming with dimples and shimmer. "He was shocked half to death!"  
   
"The rebellion strikes again!" Ken cheered through a mouthful of cake, pumping his fists. N couldnt stop beaming. Finally, after two years of hard work, their efforts were paying off. "At this rate, we'll stop the oppression of our people once and for all," N claimed boldly, relaxing back in his chair and sighing softly. It felt nice to be without his helmet, which only happened rarely, and the cool air felt nice on his face after coming from the battle's hot dust. They had defeated the overwhelming force, at least for today, and now they had another day to enjoy freedom from the government's reign.  
   
They had been fighting for almost two years now. It all began much longer before that. Thirty years prior to the present, scientists made a breakthrough. They found a way to impliment animal dna into humans and 'edit' their bodies so that they'd have animal features and traits. They played around with this, testing various animals with various humans.... There were mistakes, but they finally got it down.  
   
The government of the country of Crepescule decided to mass produce these 'animal-like humans,' named 'faunus' by the scientists and considered a new race. They offered people in jail pardon from all crimes if they agreed to become experiments for this project and many did. What the government didnt mention, was the new rules they were planning.   
   
The law was released a year later. Faunus were given seperate rights than humans, as they were created from freed criminals. They were assigned jobs that were suited to what animal they had been mixed with, horse faunus and ox faunus made to carry loads, cat and rabbit faunus to entertain, dolphin and shark faunus to do underwater maintinence. This worked out well... until corruption took over.   
   
At first they were paid for their work, but that stopped quickly. When they argued they'd be killed or punished. Using a motto of 'More pet than person' the government ordered that they wear tracking collars at all times, that they report in to the government weekly for examinations, and that if any human tells them to do something reasonable, its punishable by law if they dont obey.   
   
This went on for years until someone with the mysterious name 'N' stepped up. He was strange, to say the least. He didnt have visible animal-like traits and he always wore a black and blue motorcycle helmet, hiding his face. He seemed young, in his twenties at the most, but his words had meaning and power behind them and soon there were countless faunus under his belief system.   
   
 N made speeches in various large cities, stating that they were also people and therefore deserved the same rights that people had, and when a small part of the army came to silence him, the rebellion began.  
   
So this was how they got to where they were. Hongbin and Ken were N's right hand men. Ken was a shark faunus, sharp teeth filling his entire mouth and grey, slick fins spiking from his head and back. He could breathe underwater, but didnt want to be a maintinence worker, wanted to be an artist one day. Hongbin was a tiger faunus, dark brown stripes zig-zagging across his skin and sharp canines poking out from his upper lip at most times. He would normally be assigned to be a bodyguard for some businessman, but he didnt want that either. And N.... N was a cat faunus.   
   
Only Hongbin and Ken knew. Every day he'd shove his tail into his pants and wear a helmet to hide his chocolate colored ears and small fangs... because there was controversy about a cat faunus being a leader. Cat and rabbit faunus were used at strip clubs, porn making, service jobs. No one, not even faunus, saw that they were suited for anything else. With their lean bodies and natural seductive capabilities, along with the instinctive longing to be submissive, cat faunus werent suited to fight, let alone be leaders.   
   
The days would go on, some with rest and some with viscious battles. People would obviously die, leading to funerals like this.  
   
N stood at a podium, helmet hiding his expression but his voice revealing dismay and empathy. "Today, we lost ten friends to the army..." Some in the small crowd surrounding him were crying, some were zoned out. There were only five hundred faunus in the rebellion the previous day. Four hundred and ninety now.   
   
"Mark, Jackson, LE... These are only a few of our friends who didnt make it today... The army has taken things too far. We're NOT just disobedient animals! And we wont stand to be treated as such!" The crowd whooped and shouted various comments of anger and determination. They all looked up to N, and Ken smiled from the crowd thinking about it. Him, N, and Hongbin had been friends since childhood. N and the rebellion's success was his own happiness.   
   
N continued. "This injustice cant keep happening! And we're going to get revenge for our friends who have died, the many who have been injured and given up their home's comfort for the rebelluon. We'll end this soon! Tomorrow we're going to attack the army directly and win back our freedom!" The cheers were deafening and the spirit was echoing throughout the faunus's hearts.   
   
After the speech N made, the leader met with Hongbin and Ken once again. The oldest sighed, slipping off his helmet once he was sure all the windows were closed and doors locked. N's bright red hair suited him, and his ears twitched in relief from the dungeon of the head-cover.  
   
"You did good today, hyung," Hongbin grinned, falling back onto a dingy old couch that took up most of the room's space. N sat back in a folding chair nearby, smiling faintly. "Thanks, Binnie... but I'm worried about tomorrow. What if the fight doesnt go well?" This was where Ken responded, patting N on the back firmly. "It'll go well. That bastard Leo wont see us coming and even if we dont end things, we'll do some damage."   
   
Leo was the head general of the army, and the leader of the enemy. He was well known for his cruel methods and downright hatred for faunus. No one knew why he was so against the race, but it was fact that he was a powerful leader and a good fighter. They were planning on ambushing him as he and his squad moved back to their headquarters, but N still seemed on edge about the fight.   
   
Hongbin noticed this and smiled faintly. "Come on, N. You've taken us this far, look at all we've done. The army is in disarray and why would they pit a whole force against a small rebellion if we werent doing heavy damage? Give yourself some credit. We'll win this." The leader simply nodded before sighing and rubbing his eyes. "I guess so... But we'll see how it goes."  
   
That night, at two am, they were on the march. Only fifty faunus were going to this fight; they wanted to move quietly so they wouldnt be noticed until they attacked. The army's camp was made in the mountainous area near a canyon, making travel there difficult, but they were determined and made it there by early morning.   
   
"What now?" a hawk faunus asked as they hid behind the rocks, peering out at the small camp they were due to attack momentarily. N muttered a soft response.  
   
"You and the others that can fly stay back here and shoot from afar. Remember, your safety is most important, so if they come after you fly back. The rest of us will rush in. Ken will lead the mechs, Hongbin the ground, and I'll go after Leo myself." The others who had been listening in to his words gave small nods before the guns were loaded and the mechs were manned. Ken signalled that he and the five other mechs were ready to move out, and Hongbin signalled that the ground army was ready to rush in. N waited a moment... then gave the call to attack.  
   
The initial attack was brutal. Humans that were unprepared to fight were slaughtered by angry faunus, and, as expected, Leo was out in seconds. The man was tall, with shoulder length Raven hair that was pulled back into a short ponytail. He took in the situation before whilping his own gun out and calling out orders, distracted by the mechs coming towards the medical tent. This was N's chance.  
   
He fired his gun at Leo's back, but somehow the bullet missed it's target. Damn, N thought. Someone must've changed up the calibration; his aim was normally perfect. Leo spun around, narrowing his eyes as he locked on to the leader and began to return fire.   
   
N was winning the one on one firefight, and after ten minutes of narrowly missing bullets and explosions, he had done what he had planned. Leo was at the edge of a cliff, A fifty foot drop to a small river that may or may not be deep enough to swim in. There was nowhere to run.   
   
"Pretty pitiful of you to use tactics like this," Leo spat bitterly, causing N to scowl, expression hidden by his helmet. Both of them were out of bullets, but N had another gun. Leo, unprepared for the fight, didnt. "Now you know how we felt when you set up mines in front of our camp," N replied with obvious sass, his anger as well as his current victory burning through his blood. Leo sighed, glaring the other down. "Sorry, kiddo, but war isnt fair. Shouldnt have started this fight if you werent ready for consequences." N narrowed his eyes, slipping his other gun out of it's holster. "It'll all be over in a moment. Close your eyes, 'kiddo,' this might be a bit uncomfortable. Either that or call off your men right now."   
   
Suddenly something metallic clinked by N's feet and rolled towards Leo. One of Leo's soldiers, in an attempt to save their general, had tossed a grenade at N and mistimed his throw... What an idiot. But before Leo could prepare himself for imminent death, for the agonizing burn of the explosion, someone was throwing him to the side.   
   
As he opened his eyes in surprise, he only had a moment to take in what had happened. It didnt make any sese. N had thrown him out of the way and now their positions were reversed. The leader of the faunus rebellion cursed at his instincts. Why did he just save Leo...? Wasnt he the enemy? Wouldnt his death end all of this? Wasnt he just about to shoot him anyway?   
   
Before he could move to save himself as well, the grenade detonated... and N was thrown off the face of the cliff with the blast. He was falling, falling, and he was sure his body was burnt all over but he couldnt feel it. He was going to die for saving the enemy general on impulse. He was going to die without finishing this war, without saving anyone. He hit the water below and his vision snapped to black. The last thing he could remember was warm hands lifting him up (probably an angel taking him to heaven) before he lost consciousness. 


	2. Chapter 2

Leo didnt understand what had happened. His eyes had been squeezed closed, he heard the grenade detonate, and yet he felt no pain. He wouldve thought it was because he was dead, but the battle air still smelt as dusty and dry as before and he could still hear men yelling from various distances away.   
   
When he slipped his eyes open, he still didnt have much clarity. The cliff was cracked and burned and the rebellion leader was nowhere in sight. That's when Ravi, his right hand man, ran up to him. "Come on, Leo, lets go see if you killed him! Good job!" There was an encouraging smack on his shoulder but he didnt feel so excited. He should be hopeful that the enemy leader was probably dead after that kind of blast, not guilty of all things. Why had N saved him? There was literally no logical reason behind it. 'Stupid faunus,' Leo thought with a bitter glare towards the ground. 'Always going on instinct.'  
   
Him and Ravi rushed down the mountain-side as fast as they could, grabbing two men who were resupplying ammunition to come with them. They had to get to N (or N's body) before N's own right-hand men realized what had happened. A faunus who had seen what had happened had already run off to inform them. It wouldnt be long before the entire army was redirected at him.   
   
Jumping down from the rocky surface he had scaled, Leo rushed to the bank of the river at the bottom of the cliff, looking for any signs of abnormal motion. It was difficult to spot N floating limply along the waters in his navy motorcycle uniform and helmet, but he did it.   
   
Ravi grabbed his arm before he could start wading in. "He could be faking it to ambush you," the other male declared sternly. Leo grumbled at this. "He just got caught in an explosion, hes either dead or unconscious."   
   
"Lets just be careful okay? I value your life," Ravi sighed, and Leo complied, waiting for his friend and comrad to return with the body. The river was deep where N was floating, so Ravi had a little trouble carrying the enemy leader out, but once he did he dropped the other male on the ground like an object. "We're lucky he's lighter than he looks. Men?" Ravi's simple command sent the two soldiers rushing to N's side, kneeling beside him. One checked his pulse, giving it a moment before stating, "He's still alive, sirs, but his heartrate and breathing is unstable."   
   
Leo rubbed his eyes, sighing. He had hoped that N had died so that he wouldnt owe the other snarky and downright annoying male his life. They had been fightinf for two years for something as disgraceful as this to happen? "How did he get caught by the grenade anyway?" Ravi asked as the enemy's vitals were checked in more detail. Leo hesitated. He couldnt drop his pride enough to say that a faunus of all things saved him. Faunus were evil, animalistic, it must've been a fluke. "I guess he just dropped his guard," the general lied, feeling his chest tighten a bit and ordering his conscience to shut up.   
   
"Well, whatever. Let's see this guy's face. Its been two years, might as well know what animal spawn he is." Leo bit his lip. N was sassy and outspoken, demanding and bold. There wasnt much research on the psychology of faunus, but Leo's own theory was that the creatures had the same mindset of the animal they were clashed with. So based off these traits... He'd probably be a gator, a crow. It was weird how he didnt LOOK like a faunus at all, with no animal traits visible. Whatever. It'd make sense in a few seconds.  
   
Leo nodded and the second soldier slowly reached for N's helmet, as if he was also scared of what was under that mask. This man had been the root of hell for them, causing a rebellion that should've been weak and destructable and making it into one of the hardest fights of Leo's life. Many men had died to this man's own army.... The thought that the faceless would have a face was unnerving.  
   
The helmet slipped off, and they were all frozen in shock. Not awe, in fact, the complete opposite. Because rather than a great beast, a strong jaw, wrinkles from stress, they saw....  
   
Ravi reacted first. The man started laughing violently, unable to steady his breathing. "Oh this is great! What a fucking twist, right?!"  
   
Because under that mask wasnt a beast, it was a boy around their age with feminine, slim features contorted in pain, bright red hair that dusted over sunkissed skin, and two perky, chocolate-colored cat ears.  
   
A catboy. His army had been devestated by a fucking catboy. Leo wasnt sure if he felt more amused or frustrated. Catboys were well known among humans and even faunus to be submissive little sex-driven suck ups. They were rarely found holding jobs outside of the adult entertainment industry and if they werent working as strippers or prostitutes, they were owned by rich men as servants. This was hilarious and embarrassing all at once. But Leo didnt have much time to admire the young face with eyes squeezed tightly shut and dirt, blood, and a shallow cut on it's smooth surface. N's right-hand men would be coming to save their leader.   
   
"Inject him with something to make him sleep for a while. We're taking him hostage." His orders were vague but absolute and the men followed the orders immediately, preparing the syringe and injecting a clear fluid into N's inner elbow. Leo reached down himself and picked up the limp form, who's face was slowly relaxing as the other male drifted to sleep. Ravi was right, N was lighter than he looked. It didnt matter. "Let's go back. Call off the troops." Ravi nodded firmly.  
   
   
   
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!" Hongbin practically screamed, his voice echoing throughout the small canyon. The second the messanger had told them what happened to N they had rushed to the base of the cliff... The proof that Leo had gotten there first was the abandoned motorcycle helmet on the shoreline. Ken was silent, wide eyed as he stared at the helmet before he dove into the river, clothes and all. As a shark faunus he could breathe underwater and see clearly through the murk. Maybe N's helmet had been swept off somehow, maybe he was still in the river. Ten minutes of searching destroyed that possibility.   
   
"N..." Hongbin growled weakly in despair, falling to his knees and covering his eyes. They didnt even know if their friend was alive, just that he or his body was in Leo's grasps. And they were pissed.  
   
Because the messanger saw N dive forward to save Leo. They saw N take the brunt of the blast for the enemy in selfless impulse. And Leo had such a stick up his ass that he called his own victory and had taken N away anyway.   
   
"We're going to get him back, I swear I'll rip Leo's eyes out myself," Ken growled faintly. Hongbin glared at the ground, catlike irises flickering with fury and desperation all at once. "Lets go tell the others..." he finally quietly offered. The scaled the cliff again in silence.   
   
   
   
"Dad!! Dad, oh my gosh... Wh.. what happened to you...?!"  
   
"T... Taekwoon... You need to get out of here, take your sister and go, now!"  
   
"But dad, I can't leave you...! And mom..."  
   
"Your mom is gone already! They're coming back, go!! Go now!!"   
   
Leo shot up in a cold sweat. He didnt know where he was or even who he was for a monent before reality sat back in. It was just a dream, a memory long gone. Sighing, the general fell back into his pillow. Ravi had asked him to get some rest when they reached the base again, claiming that he deserved it and he didnt argue. He was exhausted. But now it seemed like he was even more tired and irritable than before. It was a good thing he had someone to take that irritation out on.  
   
The moment they had arrived, Leo ordered the soldiers holding N to search him and strip him. As much as he hated to admit it, N was clever and would probably have some sort of item on him that he could use to fight or escape. He told them to put a stage 3 collar on him. Collars had various functions and were required to be worn by all faunus by law, though the rebellion refused. Stage one collars just indicated social rank, stage two had a gps tracking chip. Stage three collars had a shocking mechanism, the tracking chip, and an emergancy injection device that could be triggered to shoot tranquilizers into the neck at the push of a button.   
   
When that was finished, the men were to chain N in Leo's office rather than the prisoners' ward. He hoped they had gotten all of the tasks done properly; his men could be deficient at times.   
   
The general rolled out of bed, made sure his uniform was straightened and his hair was flat (he didnt bother changing, being too drained). The anesthetic would be wearing off and N should be awake by now. It was time to greet him properly.  
   
As Leo made his way down the halls, he prepared himself. N did not save him. He repeated this in his head. N's instincts prevailed. N would kill him if he had the chance, and he had no room to let his guard down.   
   
He installed these thoughts in his head, worked himself up intentionally. N's army had killed three hundred and twenty of his men. Leo forced himself to remember the faces of the dead, their families falling apart at the news. And suddenly, he felt no sympathy for the faunus.  
   
He slammed his office door open, and a figure in the corner jerked slightly in surprise. The men had done a decent job. N was only clothed in the dark, still damp pants that he had been brought in with, various burns and wounds present on his tan and bare chest and arms. Leo noticed a long, dark brown cat tail streaming from the base of his ass. His red hair was tousled and the moment his chocolate eyes made contact with Leo, they narrowed into slits.  
   
"Good morning," Leo started. N was bound by a thick chain to a thicker metal pole in the corner of the room, his white collar accenting his skin tone as if he was made to wear it. His wrists and ankles were cuffed together as well. He still seemed exhausted and was very obviously in pain, but was obviously fighting to seem threatening. How pathetic.   
   
"You're a piece of shit," N spat, his words in flames. He was too prideful to plead. It was weird to see self-confidence in a cat faunus. Leo glared the other male down coldly before reaching out of his pocket and revealing a small remote. N visibly swallowed. Leo almost smirked.   
   
"This look suits you. Who would've thought the great leader of the rebellion was such a slutty creature?" N growled loudly, baring his teeth. His canines were especially sharp, but Leo felt no danger. "Shut the fuck up," N snarled, his ears ducking low on his head. Leo shrugged and pressed the button of the remote.  
   
N suddenly cried out, jerking his cuffed hands up, gripping the collar around his neck tightly, and squeezing his eyes shut in pain as he writhed on the carpet. Good to know the shock mechanism worked. Leo held down the button for a few seconds before lifting his finger, watching the panting figure on the ground before him in feigned disinterest.   
   
"You'll learn quickly to watch your tongue, faunus. I'll have it cut off if you speak much more. It's annoying." Leo was amused at the dark, hateful scowl he received. "After all, animals dont speak."  
   
This time it was N staring at him, eyes narrowed in irritation and head slightly cocked to the side.  "I'm NOT a fucking animal." Leo knelt down and smirked as N lunged to attack him, getting jerked back by the neck by the chain. This was truly amusing. "Right, right. Don't worry, N. From now on, you're going to be my little pet, my trophy for the two years of hell me and my men have endured due to your shitty rebellion." He knew N had hoped that he didnt notice the flicker of worry in the faunus' eyes. He did.   
   
"Now, to more pressing matters..." Leo strode across the room to his desk, sliding a drawer open and drawing out a video camera. He then made his way back to N, turned the power on. An option stated 'live broadcast,' and N dug his fingers into the carpet as Leo pressed 'record.'  
   
"Hello, faunus, this is the general of the Crepesculian army, Jung Leo." N's eyes went wide and he started to struggle fiercely, re-opening a rather large cut on his chest. Leo hoped for N's sake that none of the blood got on the floor. He continued.  
   
"I'm not sure if you recognize this face, but I'm recording to inform you. This catboy here, the one chained up in my office, is none other than your leader N." N's head bowed in shame, though he was still meekly trying to pull at the chains in halfhearted struggle. "Are you suprised? All this time you thought there was a brave figurehead under that helmet." N bit his lip subconsciously. He seemed to know the stigma that came with being such a perceivably weak race. He seemed to know that his own men would trash their image of him after seeing this.  
   
"Your 'brave' leader who led countless of honorable men to their deaths over a pointless fight for unreachable freedom. And now look at him." Leo pressed the remote's button and shoved the guilt down his throat as N's small cry radiated throughout the room, the male curling up into himself with the pain of the shock. But it was too late to stop. It was too selfish and impulsive to stop. He wouldnt be as stupid as the creature before him. Mercy got people killed.   
   
"Look, all of you. I promise by next week he'll be trained to be a perfect mindless pet. Do you really want to keep going to these measures meaninglessly? Quit this rebellion. You've lost." And with that, he shut off the broadcast.  
   
   
   
N felt hopeless. His entire body acbed horribly. He wondered why he had wished to survive when he blacked out in the explosion. This humiliation and pain was worse than death. And Leo, damn he fucking HATED Leo. Be wished he had just let the man explode into a thousand disgusting, racist pieces.   
   
But through all the anger, the betrayal, even the throbbing pain, the thing he felt most was fear. He refused to show it, Leo would probably just mock him and flaunt it on a screen like the asshole he was. But for the second time in his life he felt trapped. If he spoke he'd be electrocuted and there was nothing within reach that he could use to escape. He had seen the effect of the government's drugs firsthand. The glazed over eyes, the constant obedience, the lack of a soul... He didnt want to be like that.   
   
But what scared him the most of all was the fact that catboys were stigmas in the world the same way roadside whores were to humans. They were created for the sole purpose of pleasing people and everyone believed that they were weak minded and easily submissive. This meant that his army, the people who had trusted him... Chances were, they'd turn their back on him, question all of his orders. Leo made him sound like an amateurish, overreacting murderer. And as much as he didnt want to believe it, he knew his army was malleable enough to give up on the cause, give up on him.   
   
He was too dazed in his own thoughts to react when Leo rustled his crimson hair, positive the general was enjoying the realization and weakness on N's face. "I have things to do, so I'll be back soon, pet."   
   
He was too lost in his subconscious to feel anger or even the previous fear anymore. He was trapped... and it was his own fault for saving Leo's life in the first place.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hyuk, respond."

 

"Hold on, hyung, let me put these bandages away..."

"Respond."

"Be patient, Leo-hyung!"

Leo had to admit, Hyuk was the only one (besides maybe Ravi) who could get away with acting so informal with him. He'd met the boy during a visit to a medical school and discovered by complete accident that Hyuk was unusually talented. Now Hyuk was the head medic for his army, but in exchange for his services he had asked to 'not have to do all that salute-y, bow-y, formal stuff.' It was a worthy exchange. 

A few seconds passed with shuffling noises echoing to the speaker of the phone before Hyuk's voice became clearer on the other line. "There, I'm done. What's up?" 

"We've captured N." Hyuk didnt respond for a few seconds, probably trying to consider that Leo never joked around but also that there was no way they caught the enemy leader. He seemed to choose to trust the general. "Is he dead?" Hyuk asked, almost too casually.

"He's alive, but get this: He's a catboy." 

"Hyung, I swear if you're actually joking with me...."

"Hyuk." Leo made sure his voice was dead serious. "I'm not joking. Anyway, he got blasted off a cliff and he's all cut and burned up. I need you to take care of the bigger wounds so he doesnt die on me when I start interrogating him." He could practically hear the boy gawking on the other line. He sighed, knowing he was wasting his time with this. "Just get there soon. I have to check on my men and I dont have time to babysit him." And with that he hung up.

The general paced down the stale hallways, nodding to the men that stopped to bow to him as he passed. He was well respected and liked it this way. Soon he'd earn the respect of the faunus too, once he finished his plans for N. Once they saw that the great leader could be broken, they wouldnt test him anymore. But he still felt guilty when he thought back to that moment on the cliff when the enemy leader saved his life in exchange for his own safety, respect, and freedom. He tried not to think about it.

\-----------------------------------

Hyuk slipped the door to Leo's office open carefully, peeking around the corner of the frame to see what he was working with. Sure enough, chained to a pole in the corner of the room was an injured catboy, eyes squeezed shut as his cuffed hands were clenched in pain. Well this was a twist. 

"Ah, N-hyung... Wakey wakey..." He wasnt good at being serious. As someone who had heard what the male before him was capable of, he was nervous. But as someone who was looking at a catboy, he didnt know how to act.

The crimson-haired figure's eyes flickered open, a pretty chocolate color that reflected fear and anger. His ears ducked. "Who are you and what do you want," the catboy growled out. Hyuk had heard that voice before, this was N alright. "I'm just here to treat your wounds... Will you let me?" 

"I dont trust you." Hyuk sighed. He shouldve expected this to not go along easily. Leo had asked him to bring the remote to the collar, to just inject N with the tranquilizers inside the mechanism and work while the male was too dazed to lash out, but he didnt want to do that. "Look... I know you're not happy being here..." He felt like he was talking to a small child and wondered if that was how catboys were supposed to be treated. He had never met one himself before, and N definitely didnt suit the rumors. 

"What if I tell you what I'm doing while I'm doing it. If you think I'm lying you have every right to claw me or whatever you want." N rolled his eyes, seeming to realize that Hyuk was completely clueless. "Do what you want." Hyuk sighed in relief.

He approached cautiously still until he was kneeling right in front of the enemy leader. This man had caused a rebellion that had almost turned into war, this man was the one Leo spited every day. He couldnt believe it. N was too soft-faced, too young, too... honestly cute. It was hard to believe he was dangerous at all, but Hyuk reminded himself to be careful. 

"Now, I'm going to put the disinfectant on the cuts and burns so they dont get infected. It's probably going to hurt but I promise it'll help..."

"I know how disinfectant works," N mumbled, but seemed to appreciate Hyuk's efforts to be kind. The medic nodded before dipping a cotton ball into the clear solution and slowly pressing it against the larger cut on N's chest.

The faunus flinched, wincing but not retaliating, as Hyuk slowly dabbed each wound. They were everywhere, Hyuk thought. N's chest and stomach was burned badly, his arms cut up from the jagged rocks when he hit the river, his back taking the least of the damage. He tossed the bloodied cotton ball into the trash and slipped another one out of his bag; this would take a while. 

N quickly moved away as Hyuk shifted the cotton ball to his face. "You have a cut on your cheek, hyung. I need to clean it." The catboy seemed wary, and those big, brown eyes stared up at Hyuk's in analysis for a moment before the male nodded. The medic wished N wouldnt tense up so bad whenever he touched him, but at least he was allowed to touch him at all. 

As Hyuk finished bandaging the bigger wounds, he realized something. N's left ankle, cuffed to his right, was strangely out of place... "Uh... N-hyung...? Does your ankle hurt? Cause it kind of looks really badly sprained." N bit his lip, glaring down at his ankle. "Why would you care about that? Doesnt it make it easier for you all if I cant run away?" The medic sighed at his negativity. 

"Look, I'm just a healer. I dont care about the politics of this war, I just want as few people OR faunus hurt as possible. I'm going to call Leo and ask him if I can uncuff you to wrap up your leg." N looked downright confused, completely not expecting Hyuk's reply. 

The medic stood, shaking his head. He knew what Leo was trying to do, and he didnt agree with it at all. Leo was going to make N seem less than an animal, not just to manipulate N into thinking he's hopeless but also to convince the other faunus that he's not worth trying to fight for. Leo wasnt this type of asshole, probably only driven to do this because of his hate for faunus... but Ravi, Leo's adviser, definitely could be. Ravi wasnt a cruel guy himself, but his war strategies were brutal. This was one of them. 

He called Leo, watching N curl up on the floor in his peripheral vision. "Leo-hyung? N's ankle is sprained really bad and I need to take off the cuffs to wrap it. Can you tell me where the keys are? I'll cuff him back after." 

Leo was quiet for a moment. "Ravi sprained his ankle on purpose. He actually tried to break it, but I guess he messed up. He said that N couldnt break out and run away this way." Did... did Leo sound guilty? There was no way there was sadness or regret in the proud general's tone, but Hyuk swore he heard it. "Oh.... okay," the medic responded. "If its going to do serious damage, I'll tell you where the keys are, but otherwise just leave it alone," Leo murmered before hanging up. 

Great. This was all a big mess. Ravi was taking out the deaths of his men on N, Leo felt like crap but was followin Ravi's cruel advice anyway, and just because of his race and species the captured enemy leader was being practically treated like an animal. 

"Leo-hyung said... Well, Ravi-hyung doesnt want your ankle to heal quickly, so I cant help..." N bowed his head, narrowing his eyes in frustration. "Fuck Leo.." N muttered irritably. "Tell him when you see him that I'll die before I become his stupid pet." Hyuk sighed, packing up his supplies. "Well, for everyones sake, lets hope this is all resolved peacefully. And N?" The faunus looked up. "I know you saved Leo and that's how you got here. I know you regret it but..."

"...but thank you. Leo's thankful too, he just doesnt want to admit it because you're the enemy. I'll talk to Leo about being kinder to you." Hyuk caught N's eyes widen slightly before the catboy faintly nodded. With that, he turned and left to find the general.

\--------------------------------------

"Are you an idiot?" This wasnt going well. "Hyung, he saved your life. Sure he's the enemy and he did all that bad stuff, but in his eyes so did you. It's completely wrong to treat him so badly when hes the reason you're not dead." Leo sighed, falling back into the chair behind him.

"I know, Hyuk, I'm not an idiot. But think about it like this. The men dont know that he saved me, they just know that his army killed their brothers and overthrew social order. If I start babying him they wont listen to my command anymore." Hyuk's cheeks puffed and his voice grew stern in response. "Well then be nicer in private. You owe him your life, even if you'd rather have died." And with that he marched away.

The general rubbed his eyes. Great, now his medic didnt agree with him either. He KNEW that N saved him, that didnt give him an excuse to just free the faunus of all the wrongs he had commited and dance into the sunset. His phone rang and he answered, half expecting to hear Hyuk on the other line. It was Ravi. 

"Top, the faunus control head, is here. He wants to see if N is in the database. It'll be good to have some information on him other than that he's a rebellion-leader catboy." Leo sighed. Couldnt he get away from N for a couple of hours. Whatever. "Send him to my office. I'll be there soon." 

\-------------------------------

He walked in to an interesting scene. 

N's teeth were bared and the fur on his tail was puffed up, eyes practically glowing with rage. The man sitting just out of reach of him, however, seemed heavily amused. "What's wrong, kitten? Can you not claw me from there? Poor boy. You think you're actually intimidating but you're just cute when you're all puffy like that." 

"Top, please stop antagonizing my hostage." Two heads turned when Leo strolled into the room, N's eyes darkening, Top's lighting up. "Leo! So good to see you again." The general sighed, dodging N's range of attack and falling back into his large leather chair behind his desk. "Lets just get this over with. I have work to do." Top shrugged and picked the collar remote up off of Leo's desk, pressing a red button before Leo realized what was happening.

N yelped a little as a needle shot out of his collar and into his neck, quickly slipping back into the mechanism. Leo glared Top down. "Did I give you permission to do that?" The other man sighed. "Relax, general. This'll make my job twenty times easier."

They watched as N's eyelids slowly grew heavy, the male swaying a bit on his knees before falling over, panting hard. The drug wouldnt put him to sleep, it'd just paralyze him for a decent amount of time. Once completely sure it had kicked in, Top approached the glaring faunus.

He took a pair of scissors and snipped off a small lock of crimson hair. He then pulled a small machine out of his jacket pocket and fed the hair to it. Leo didnt really understand how the fancy new dna tools worked, but he let Top do his job. 

After two minutes of silence and anticipation, the machine beeped. "Oh, this is interesting." 

"What is?" Leo raised an eyebrow. Top turned towards N, kneeling down beside the boy. "His real name is Cha Hakyeon. The last time he was registered into our system was when he was seven years old. He's been dodging us for a long time." 

Leo repeated that name in his head. Cha Hakyeon... It was a bright name, one that suited N. It was a name he'd easily remember. Top pressed some buttons on the machine before holding a thumbs up to the general. "Alright, we've got him regestered. Now if he manages to get out we can put him on a search list. It all works out." The businessman then stroked down the length of N's back down to his ass, the faunus glaring fiercely but unable to move a muscle with the drug still in his system. "Top, what are you doing?" Leo asked. The man sighed and rose to his feet. "He's a catboy Leo. You know if you touch him the right way he wont be able to help himself, its how they were made. It'd be so easy to train him if you just showed yourself as the dom and..."

Leo felt disgusted at the man before him. "Leave and don't touch my belongings without my permission again unless you want to lose your job." 

When the office door closed, Leo rubbed his eyes. What a mess... First they were telling him to train N through torture, now they wanted him to have sex with him? Sure he was attractive, and sure Leo was more interested in guys than girls, but he wouldnt stoop so low as to rape someone. Not even a catboy. It didnt matter. He had work to do and needed to clear his mind of N for a while. 

As he was just about to leave, it seemed the faunus regained control of his mouth. "Why did you stop him...? You seemed fine with calling my race slutty earlier.." 

Leo's grip on the doorhandle tightened. "I have morals. And unless you wanted him touching you, I'd suggest you shut up and thank me for saving your dignity just now." And with that, he left.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter include dubcon and mentioned noncon sexual activity. If this is something that'll upset you I'm totally fine if you ask for a summary of the chapter instead in the comments. Also Ravi's a complete dick in this chapter, but *spoiler not spoiler* he'll get better over time i promise

Hongbin rewatched the video for the tenth time. N was alive, but very much not doing well. Damn Leo for this, he thought, as he listened to the conversation in the adjacent room. It wasnt going good.

"Seriously, a catboy?! He's done for, he'll be begging for Leo to put it in by tomorrow!"

"I cant believe we were fooled by this!"

"If that idiot had just let Leo die this fight would be over!"

Ken was trying his hardest to argue with the crowd of angry faunus who had just seen Leo's leaked video, but they just werent listening. Hongbin's fears were confirmed when he heard a man say, "I'm not risking my ass to save some catboy from the toughest man in the government. Lets just get a new, better leader." And everyone was agreeing, their cheers and boasts so much louder than Ken's pleas for them to just hear him out. 

Hongbin remembered back to something N had said just days before he was captured. 'I dont want to be a catboy... I hate wearing this helmet all the time just because people wont listen to me if I show what I am.' 

Hongbin had tried to comfort N, but there wasnt much he could say. It was all true; Cat faunus were so looked down upon for their nature and the bad influences of others that no one would even consider listening to one. 

It was all Leo's fault. Because of him N had lost everything... AFTER saving the general's life. He'd done nothing to deserve this! And Hongbin swore that he'd kill Leo when he saw him again.  
\------------------------------------------

Ravi watched as Leo paced down the hall, probably headed to the gardens across town. He always did that when he was stressed, going to nature to take a breath of fresh air. He'd probably be out until night since it took a while to walk there and back... Which meant it was his time.

Leo was a cool guy. He was sympathetic to his men, checking on their mental and physical health daily. He made sure to give respect where it was due. A man like that wasnt suited to interrogate, wasnt suited to control someone. If he were to keep the promise he made on live broadcast about having N trained by next week, Ravi would have to help.

Top had given him information. 'If you want to reward him, rub the base of his tail. It's a sensitive part for cat faunus, and it weakens their mind instinctively. You need to teach him the basics first. Make it simple. 'Please master, get reward. Disobey master, get punishment.' Keep it consistent and he'll be trained by next week.' 

Top knew more about faunus and their instincts and reactions than anyone, so Ravi trusted his advice. Once he was sure Leo was out of the facility and on his way, he made his way into the office.

N was asleep, curled up into himself, tail draped over his waist. Ravi hadnt managed to visit him since they found him in the river, but that made things easier if anything. He wasnt affected by N's appeal like Hyuk and Leo were. He walked over, nudging the faunus with his foot directly into a wound on his stomach. The older male winced and slowly opened sleepy eyes, probably expecting to see Leo. He recognized Ravi from the rebellion's fights with him.

"What do you want?" N asked, already on edge. Ravi was more brutal than Leo. While Leo would spare faunus who begged for their lives, Ravi would murder them. Ravi wasnt someone he wanted to be near him while he was vulnerable like this. 

The assistant general sunk to his knees beside the faunus, obviously not afraid of the chance that N may try to attack him. He had the collar's remote in his pocket; he could easily end any form of rebellious action. "I know Leo is too guilty to do your training any justice..." Training... N's breathing sped up a bit. That was what this was about. 

"I wont fall to scum like you, you're an idiot if you..." Ravi suddenly reached forward and grabbed the base of N's tail, and N was interrupted by his own low moan, shocked with his own action. The man kneeling by him laughed. "Did that feel good? What were you saying about not falling to me?" 

N was furious. He dove forward, straddling Ravi and wrapping the chain between his cuffed wrists around the man's neck. He'd kill him, he didnt care. Just as he started to pull the chain taught though, just as Ravi's breath was lost, a painful jolt tore through his body. "Ahh..!!" N cried out, falling off of the other male and clawing at his neck. This shock was much more painful than the one Leo had administered and lasted for twice as long. When Ravi finally released the button, he wondered if his nerves were damaged from the intensity. 

"Will you try that again? Dont think I'm scared to get near you. You're just a catboy, you cant do anything to me. Now." Suddenly his tail was grabbed again, and N did everything he could to resist the urge to purr at the sharp, warm tingle that shot through his body. "I'm going to teach you some vocabulary. Be obedient or I'll shock you until you beg me to stop. I'm not as sympathetic as Leo. You know I'll do it. Now be a good boy." 

The entire time, Ravi kept a firm grip on N's tail, smirking as he could tell that the faunus was physically struggling to keep himself together, already breathing harder than before. "Now repeat after me. 'Master.' This is what you'll call Leo at all times." Silence. Ravi sighed, reaching into his pocket. "Your choice." 

The button was held for a full minute before N was screaming for it to stop. His body visibly jolted afterwards and he was left trembling. Ravi didnt give him a moment to rest before grabbing his tail again. "Now what is Leo to you?" N bit his lip, glaring at the floor, but the moment he saw Ravi reaching back for the remote he replied. "M... master." He wanted to die from shame as Ravi smirked and rubbed behind his ears, stroking his tail lazily. It felt so good, his body tingling all over not just from the shock but from something else MUCH stronger, and N gave a faint whimper. He was torn between his pride and this amazing sensation. 

"Good boy!" Ravi cooed, noting with amusement that there was a bulge forming in N's tight pants. The rumors about catboys were true; they really couldnt resist it, even if they wanted to. "The next words you're going to learn are 'Yes' and 'Please.' These are the only two responses that you'll ever give your master, so remember them well." N was still trembling slightly, but repeated the words. The moan that Ravi drew out of him after was much louder. 

"Now pretend that I'm Leo. I walk in to this room after a hard night. What do you say?" He had to shock N for thirty more seconds before the faunus cried out, "M.. master..!!" Satisfied, Ravi stroked the catboy's tail a few more times then stood up. N was painfully hard, panting violently as if he couldnt breathe and even sweating a little. His cheeks were flushed and his pupils were dilated wide, tail flicking from side to side. A normal catboy would be begging for relief in this state; N had a stronger will than he expected. That'd be dealt with. He slipped out a syringe and inserted the needle into N's arm, pressing the plunger before turning to the door.

Ravi checked the time. Leo would be returning in a few minutes; he didnt realize he had spent so much time with N. He left the room with a smirk, excited to hear Leo's reaction to his hostage's condition.

\---------------------------------

Leo made his way back to the office after checking into the front and showing his identity card as always. He felt a little better after getting away from the commotion for a while. He'd check on N, take a shower, then rest for the night. The rest could be worried about later. 

Except when he passed Ravi in the hall, the other male's face lit with a wide smirk of satisfaction, something tinged as wrong in his mind. "Ravi?" The other stopped in his tracks. "Oh, Leo! I hope you dont mind. I know you were too busy to train your pet, so I did it for you. Why dont you go see how he's doing?" 

Oh no. What had Ravi done with N? Leo didnt respond to his adviser, instead rushing to his office and flinging the door open. His eyes went wide. 

"M.. master..." N was a wreck, tears streaking down his cheeks, his soft-looking lips parted as he inhaled and exhaled quickly. His legs were shifting uncomfortably and... was he hard?! "M.. master.. It hurts..." It became clear once he noticed how blank and zoned out N's eyes were from their usual clarity. Ravi had injected him with the drug the science ward gave to faunus to make them resort to instinct to study them. Leo flushed brightly. He didnt know what to do now.

"Please make it stop..." N pleaded with a sob, his tail curling over his body and wrapping around his leg. Leo wished that he wasnt so affected by this, but N's messy hair and the sweat trickling down his long neck, the way those tear-shined eyes begged for contact... It took his breath away. 

No, nonono, he couldnt take advantage of someone like this, not even his hostage. It was so weird to see this side of N, he was completely different from his normally proud and angry self. But there was something in N's eyes, the flowery smell wafting from him that drew him in... Was this the thing Top had been talking about, being unable to resist..? He slowly, shakily paced forward, wondering if he should really go through with this. N wasnt in his right mind right now, N was drugged, N was his enemy, but N was so damn attractive right now and was literally begging for Leo to touch him...

He cautiously stroked N's back, shivering at the faunus' low purr and soft skin. He felt himself getting hard just from this and cursed himself for it. He hated faunus for most of his life and now look at him. N's body trembled under his touch... and suddenly the older male moaned. 

Leo fell back in shock. He had accidentally brushed N's overstimulated tail, and the faunus' eyes were squeezed shut. "M.. master... so close..." This was so wrong, so awkward, but he couldnt just leave him like this. Closing his eyes, begging that this was just a strange dream, he reached down and massaged N's erection slowly. After a few seconds, with a loud whine, the faunus released. 

Feeling the sticky wetness begin to soak N's pants, Leo realized what he had done. The enemy, the person he had previously hated the most... and Leo had just.... 

The boy passed out immediately, obviously exhausted from what had just occured. Leo rushed to the bathroom in a panic, shivering a little. He took the coldest shower of his life and begged with everything he had that N wouldnt remember this in the morning.  
\---------------------------------------

N woke up groggily. Why did he feel so drained...? His neck hurt and when he reached up to feel the tender skin around the collar he realized there was a burned ring around his throat. What...? Then it all flooded back.

Ravi practically torturing him with his own uncontrollable instincts until he was a begging, panting mess. Ravi drugging him so he couldnt stop himself from pleading when Leo walked in. The pure humiliation of it all... He remembered every second.

It didnt help that his pants were still soiled with his own come. Every time he moved the stickiness would shift; it was awful. Fucking Ravi... Fucking Leo... But what confused him most was Leo's reaction. He didnt scowl, he didnt deny N... He wanted to believe that Leo was just a pervert, but he remembered how the general had stopped Top from touching him. Leo... had he been trying to help? 

But that didnt make sense. It didnt matter, he was still trapped and still humiliated and still furious with himself for his actions the night before. 

The office door opened, and he flushed as Leo walked in. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, the awkwardness radiating off of the two of them. N averted his eyes; he didnt want to look at Leo after how he had acted in front of the general. Any respect he mightve had was gone. 

In Leo's hand was a paper plate with small, bite-sized pieces of beef scattered on it. N's sensitive nose immediately picked up on the food and his stomach growled; He hadnt eaten a thing since he had been captured. 

Half of him was sure that Leo was going to eat it in front of him just to watch him suffer, but his hopes were answered when the plate was plopped down in front of him. "Eat. You're probably starving." Leo's tone was different than it usually was. Normally the general sounded pissed and accusing, but now.... gentle? Was he mocking him? 

N fought his stomach and turned his nose up at the food. Leo sighed. "You know we're not going to let you starve yourself to death. If you dont want me to shove it down your throat, you'd better eat up. I thought cats LIKED meat. It's better than the muck the other prisoners get." The faunus glared downward, but not because of Leo. Starving himself to death had been a definite option and now it was gone. His ways out of this hell were quickly wavering. 

But his stomach growled again, much louder this time, and there was no way he could lie and say he wasnt hungry. Leo raised an eyebrow, questioning if he was really going to have to force feed N. Then the catboy slowly reached forward with both hands (they were STILL cuffed together... it was getting uncomfortable) and grabbed a piece. The meat was warm and chewy and he quickly found himself reaching for more, swallowing before he could even taste.

Leo found himself smiling as he watched the faunus eat and quickly forced himself to stop. No, it didnt matter how cute N was right now, he still needed to hate him. Even with all the guilt and the awkwardness he felt after the events of the past few days, he couldnt give up just because his hostage was 'cute.' There were crumbs on his lip and he quickly licked them off, licking the plate in a hurry once all the meat was downed. He couldnt watch N anymore without getting drawn in again.

"Ravi's going to be here in thirty minutes for your next training session." N dropped the plate, his eyes growing wide. No... nonono he didnt want to be like that again, that whimpering, pleading mess. "Don't think I'm going to let you off by giving me puppyeyes, you're still our hostage. Be grateful that we're not giving you worse treatment. I'll be in here after to do some paperwork. Be good." 

"Wait..!" N called out as Leo left the room, the general stopping briefly. "What is it?" N didnt want to plead. It was either losing his dignity by begging or losing it through Ravi's teasing. Either way, he was screwed over. After not recieving a reply, Leo walked out and closed the door behind him.

Ravi came in, as promised, ten minutes later. "Hello, kitten. Have you been good?" N swallowed his anger. Maybe he could convince Ravi to not touch or drug him if he played along. "Yes, master." He felt sick at his own words, but Ravi smiled. "Good boy. Today I'm going to teach you your expectations." N bit his lip, trying to sound innocent despite how much he wanted to scream at the man. "Expectations?" 

"That's right, pet. Leo works hard, your job as a catboy is to make him feel better when he gets back." Some bile rose up in his throat and he swallowed it down. There was no way this was going where he thought it was... 

"Now, its time to teach you how to please someone. It'll come in handy for when you want to get your way with something." 

\-----------------------------------  
Leo unlocked his office door that night. He was exhausted from drills and still had so much paperwork left to do. He didnt expect what he saw when he walked in.

N's head was bowed, hiding his face, and there was some clearish-white liquid running down his chest... Oh no. 

Leo wanted to march out of there and scream at Ravi. This was NOT what he wanted. He said he had wanted N trained but this... this wasnt right...! 

"N..." Leo muttered cautiously, realizing he was worried about the other's condition. He slowly approached... and N was grabbing his pants.

"Wh.. what are you doing?!" Leo was too shocked to move as his zipper was undone and his length was pulled out of his boxers, a warm, wet heat wrapping around it. He gasped, gripping N's hair and trying to get him to stop but the faunus was dedicated, squeezing his eyes shut and bobbing his head. It wasnt until he saw that N's face was stained with the clearish white substance, that tears were streaking down his cheeks, that the burn around his neck was more prominent than before, that Leo did what he had to. He smacked N hard.

The catboy jerked away, obviously shocked by this reaction as Leo quickly tucked his now hard length into his pants again. Damn it, he'd need another cold shower now. N's cheek was bright red from the impact and he looked up at Leo with wide eyes. Ravi had told him that if he did this Leo might let him off his chain, that Leo might feed him regularly... He wasnt expecting this...

Leo hurried to the bathroom near the office and grabbed a towel, wetting it down and hurrying back. He started to wipe the come and tears off of N's face and chest, softening his voice as he asked, "Did Ravi do this to you...?" N seemed too unstable to worry about pride right now. 

"He.. had some of his men come in... They forced me to.. I bit one of them and he shocked me for two minutes. He.. he said that you'd let me off the chain if I did it to you so I...." And Leo was doing the unthinkable. He was hugging N tightly. This wasnt fair, not even to his enemy. And N wanted to shove him away but his dignity had already been completely destroyed and he was sobbing into Leo's warm embrace.

"It's not fair... Just because I have a tail, just because I was born a certain way... I dont want to be like this! I dont want to just be some slut for this damned army!" Leo stroked the faunus' hair, wondering what the hell he was doing giving N of all people comfort but not being able to pull himself away. "I wont let Ravi do this anymore... I promise. Trust me." And he knew that N didnt trust him at all, couldnt find any comfort in those words. He hugged the faunus until the male had cried himself to sleep, still stroking his hair and wiping his tears even after the faunus was long dreaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adding some clarity to this since I did a -super- bad job in explaining *im sorry ,_,* But since cat faunus were created with intended purpose, thats why Hakyeon's instincts were what they were in the scene with Leo. I wanted to challenge the idea of the needy sub catboy by considering said 'needy sub catboy' who didnt want to be that way/treated that way. N isnt weak or anything, more that its his body's natural response to roll over. Idk if this makes too much sense but it'll be explained later~ Take care


	5. Chapter 5

The commotion drew Ken to the only tent with a screen, Hongbin being passed out after staying up for two nights straight planning to break N out. Normally the camp was pretty quiet outside of battles, and ever since N was captured there hadnt been very many battles. But at the moment it sounded like there was an uprising or something... what was going on? 

He shoved the flap of the tent aside, walking in curiously but quickly freezing as the large screen was turned on, not playing local news like it usually did but instead...

It was a video with a clear picture of N and Leo. The first thing he worried about was that N had something on his cheek by his mouth that unusually but clearly resembled come. Did he really... Ken mentally smacked himself. It didnt MATTER that N was a catboy, he wouldnt just fall to Leo like that. 

The second thing that he noticed very quickly was that N was sobbing and Leo of all people was sitting on the floor embracing him, stroking his hair. It usually took a lot to bring N to tears... and Ken worried greatly what had driven him to crying. 

The third thing he worried about though was that this video had a small flickering title in the corner that boldly said "LIVE". Who was recording this? The only reason Ken could think of that someone would show this to the faunus was to drag up dirt on N... and it was working.

"Told you! I fucking told you! He's sucking Leo off and now he's trying for sympathy!"

"He's weak! He's a stupid miserable catboy." 

"Fuck him! Hes a traitor for sucking up to Leo like thisz Just let him stay captured,he seems to be enjoying it!"

No, no this was wrong! Whatever had happened and whatever was happening on the screen, it had to be a misconception. N wouldnt cry in front of anyone, especially Leo without a good reason, and a good reason would be evident by the substance on his face. Ken's emotions boiled up as he considered the option that they had raped his best friend. And he stormed forward, slamming the power button on the screen.

"All of you shut up and listen to me!" Ken growled furiously, his mouthfull of sharp teeth glinting in the light; the intimidation factor drew attentuon to him quickly. "Every single one of you trusted every one of N's judgements up until you found out his race! Do you know how fucking wrong you are saying these things? You're all just being biased! If you didnt find out he was a catboy you'd never doubt him once!" 

Angry shouts echoed back at him. 'N lied to us.' 'Catboys are too submissive by nature to do well in leadership.' 'The come on his face and the way he was sucking up to Leo in the video was proof enough.'

There was no convincing them.

A horse faunus stopped her hooves on the ground to draw attention to herself. "Lets just elect a new leader! One we know we can trust that'll get things done!" Ken's heart fell as not a single person vocalized a disagreement. Were they really going to replace N over something as uncertain as this..? 

"How about Gdragon?" Oh shit. "No, guys...!" Ken tried to argue, but they were done listening to him. "Yeah, he gets things done! And he's not a suck up like N, he'd shred Leo to pieces." 

"Yeah!"

"Gdragon for leader!"

Ken's heart was racing. Gdragon was a rebel among rebels, less politely labelled as crazy. He laughed when he killed, he licked off the blood of the army men. N, concerned, tried to keep him out of the fight and because of it Gdragon hated N. Now with all of the drama going on... Things wouldnt be good for the previous leader or for the rebellion. This wouldnt be good.  
\-------------------------------------------

"Ravi... You took it too far." The adviser stopped, seeming innocently confused. "Huh?" 

Leo folded his arms over his chest. Once he made complete sure that N was fast asleep and not waking soon, he hurried to find the younger man. He was almost going to give up on finding Ravi until he stumbled upon him about to walk to the barracks to sleep. 

"With N. You know what you did." Realization filled the adviser's eyes and he replied far too casually, "Ooh. That. Damn, I thought you'd like it. The men said he had a nice mouth so I just did some persuading and..." 

"Ravi, he didnt WANT to." The other raised an eyebrow, obviously completely confused. "Are we on the same page? First he's a hostage, he doesnt get what he wants. Second, he's a cute catboy with some sass and an aparent talent at sucking dick, why not take advantage? Third, he's our ENEMY. You should be happy that he's suffering. He deserves it for all the lives hes taken..." Leo cut him off quickly. "Ravi think of how many lives WE'VE taken! Probably just as many if not more! And yet if something like that happened to us think of how enraged everyone would be! Why is it okay with him?" 

Leo didnt mean to get so worked up, and he meant even less to seem as worked up as he was. But Ravi shoved his hands onto his hips, his voice raising to a yell that echoed down the halls. "I dont know if you remember when N himself fucking shot my sister in front of me, but I'm not going to let you defend him! He's trash in every way, I want him to suffer, I want him to beg! I hate him!!" 

Leo found himself screaming as well. "How was he supposed to know it was your sister, she was going to shoot him if he didnt shoot first, you wouldve done the same! He's done the same crimes that we have! So why is it thar we'd just go to a cell or be killed and his only option is being a mindless sex slave!"

"I cant believe you're fucking defending him!! Does he have you brainwashed?!" Ravi's face was red with his anger, and Leo was ready to dodge a punch that could very likely be coming soon.

"If 'brainwashed' is defined as having a fucking conscience!" After Leo shouted this Ravi opened his mouth, then closed it, narrowing his eyes and withour another word spinning on his heels and storming off. Leo didnt care, he was pissed beyond words. Why WAS he defending N? But he remembered those tears, the words N cried. No one deserved that kind of treatment, not even their 'enemy.'

He ignored the men who had come out of their rooms to stare in shock at their two head generals fighting, Hyuk included, the medic wide-eyed. Suddenly Hyuk's expression grew more worried and he rushed down the hall after Ravi. Whatever, Leo thought furiously. He was going to bed.   
\------------------------------------

"It's all your fucking fault!" N didnt know where this came from, but he was beyond being surprised with Ravi. A full-force kick was delivered to his stomach and he gagged a little, another going to the side of his face. "My sister's dead and Leo's all infatuated and it's all your!" Kick. "Fucking!" Kick. "Fault!!!" 

N's vision was blurry and he hurt all over, but he didnt say anything. His sister...? Who was Ravi's sister? Why was it his fault...? And Leo was infatuated? Nothing made sense, but he didnt want to ask. He just took the kicks until one to his head sent the room spinning and Ravi was kneeling down over him, large hands curling around his neck above the collar... and he couldnt breathe... 

"S... stop..." N gasped, bringing his chained hands up to claw at Ravi's tight grip to no avail. He was so dizzy and his lungs were burning and constricting and he felt like his neck would break if Ravi squeezed any harder. His vision was fading and he wondered if he was going to die unexpectedly for reasons that he didnt even comprehend when the door flew open.

"Ravi!!" It was Hyuk's voice... Someone was pulling Ravi off of him, fighting to restrain the enraged man. "Ravi cut it out!! We need him alive, stop it!" N felt his head bang against the floor, energy too drained from the struggle to hold it up anymore. What surprised him was when tears started to streak down Ravi's face, and his screams broke into sobs. 

"She was so young and you fucking shot her... You shot her...." N didnt remember. He had shot too many people to remember any one, he forced himself with high resolve to forget so the guilt wouldnt swallow him. Now he regretted it. Hyuk slowly released Ravi once he realized the elder wouldnt be a threat anymore and the adviser sunk to his knees, face buried in his hands. "She had so much to live for.... She wanted to be a doctor, she wanted to help people and now she's gone and it's because of you..." 

And N felt guilt stronger than any physical pain that was present at the moment. "I... I'm sorry..." His voice was hoarse from being choked, and he never thought he'd be apologizing to the man who had caused him so much suffering, but suddenly Ravi didnt seem all so evil and N didnt know how to feel about it. "I... I never aim to kill, just to cripple or something, I..." Ravi looked up through his tears, and rather than seeming angry or spiteful he looked shocked at how truly apologetic N seemed. 

"I... I know I did wrong... but I was so damn angry! She had so much going for her and she had to die in some stupid rebellion that she didnt even agree with..." Ravi was trembling, but brushed off Hyuk's offer to help him stand and rose to his feet himself. "I... I need some time..." and with that, he walked out.

N and Hyuk both stared at the door for a few moments before the youngest started to panic. "Holy shit, you're going to be bruised all over!" He dropped to his knees and started suddenly feeling up N's chest, surprising the faunus with his cold hands. Hyuk sighed in relief. "It doesnt seem like any ribs are broken..." He checked N's head, claiming that the faunus 'might have a concussion or something' but it wouldnt be too serious. "I'll make sure Leo gives you plenty of water to help with that cause it'll hurt like hell tomorrow," the medic sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Jeez, Ravi..." 

"I deserved it," N suddenly muttered softly. "It's okay." 

"What?!" The faunus wrapped his tail around his torso, ears ducking low as he explained. "If I really did kill his sister, I understand. I'd be pissed too. I'd want revenge too. I thought he was doing everything just because of my race but...." N trailed off, sighing. "I probably wouldve done the same thing in his position." 

Hyuk tsked and shook his head, sighing a faint 'whatever' and walking to the door. "By the way.... Leo and Ravi got in a fight a few minutes before Ravi came in here. I thought you should know that Leo was hardcore defending you." 

N's eyes went wide. He remembered Leo's promise... 'I wont let Ravi do this to you anymore.' Something warm stirred in his heart and he shoved it down quickly, laying down, curling up, and trying to find a place on his body that wasnt sore to put his weight on. "I... I'm glad." He decided on saying. Hyuk smiled. "Sleep well, Hyung. I'll check on your injuries tomorrow."   
\---------------------------------------

Leo had made up his mind by the time he woke up the next morning. He marched to his office. N didnt wake up to the sound of the door creaking open, and he had to shake the faunus to get even a small response. The catboy groaned sleepily, eyes squeezing shut as he seemed to refuse to want to wake up. Leo grabbed his side to shake him again and he flinched hard.... and now that Leo was looking at it, where did all of these dark bruises litering N's body come from? He decided to ask later. There was something more important to the both of them right now.

Once N had fully opened his eyes and sat up, Leo slipped the key out of his pocket and unlocked N's ankle cuffs, scooting up to do the same with his hands. "Wh... what?" N asked in complete shock, probably wondering if he was still dreaming. But Leo had had enough of this. "I'm letting you go. The faunus wont accept you, your reputation's pretty much trashed. You're not a threat anymore and it's getting annoying taking care of you every day." But N smiled softly, almost knowing for sure that this wasnt Leo's real reason. 

The chain attached to his collar was unhooked and he immediately tried to stand; before the chain had been too short to reach his height, so he couldnt rise past a squat. Suddenly a pain in his ankle flared and he was stumbling, yelping, only to be caught in a pair of warm arms. 

"Slow down, your ankle is still sprained. You'll just mess it up worse like that." N nodded quickly, heart racing with joy. He was free. He was being let out. No more slave-treatment. No more slut-treatment. He could be with Hongbin and Ken again. He wasnt going to die as a government playtoy. 

Leo helped him limp to the front, N almost finding it amusing to watch the faces of men passing by in the halls, eyes wide as they saw their head general literally escorting their hard-earned hostage out the door. They reached the front and passed a pair of sliding doors.... The sunlight and warmth of the outdoors felt so nice on his skin, the wind gentle on his fur and hair. It felt so good to be free again. 

"You're injured so find somewhere to stay nearby..." Leo turned so that they were face to face. He was slightly taller than N, the faunus being able to judge now that he was finally able to stand. His obsidian hair was dusted over his forehead and his eyes were deep, dark voids that N wanted to dive into and explore. He almost felt a sense of longing to stay with Leo. He denied it before it passed his subconscious. 

"This is goodbye then," N said, wondering why he wasnt dashing off as soon as he could. Something kept him rooted in place. Leo nodded somewhat awkwardly. "Yeah..." And they stood there staring at each other for just a few more seconds before N forced himself to turn and walk off. He didnt know how to thank Leo for avoiding completely destroying his dignity in those few days he was tested. He didnt know how to tell Leo he was a piece of shit for the pressure. He didnt know how to feel about Leo... so he attempted to feel nothing. But as he partially limped back to where he knew his camp was previously, he couldnt help but feel a little bit of warmth in his chest as he pictured those eyes staring at him without a hint of anger or judgement for the first time.


	6. Chapter 6

After thirty minutes of walking, the small base made up of quickly built tents and blankets came into view. It was still behind the same hill, luckily for him. There wasnt much he could do if he had to find a new life in the city... Faunus options were limited to their race, and his choices werent preferable.   
   
He knew they'd be upset. But he wasnt planning on being a coward. He'd talk to Ken and Hongbin first; he missed them so much already. But then.... N was nervous, he wouldnt deny that. The faunus he once was close to probably hated him now. But they were still his group in the rebellion that he started. He wouldnt back off just because he was threatened a little.  
   
No one was outside; It was still early morning and they'd be just waking up or sleeping in. N wondered how things had been without him running tent to tent, rounding up people to wake in the morning, playing with the kids, teaching fighting techniques. Maybe they'd remember the long-term good over the recent bad. Maybe he could prove that he wasnt as weak as the video they had surely seen declared.   
   
He pushed the makeshift door open to the room that he, Hongbin, and Ken lived and planned in. The two were already standing by the table in the center, backs to the door. Without even looking over his shoulder, Hongbin grumpily called, "You're not allowed in here, whoever you are!" N smiled. Same old Hongbin.   
   
"Jeez, who are you to boot me out of command?" N's singsong voice made both of the other males jump and twirl around, and N couldnt help but laugh at their shocked expressions. "Hyung?!" Ken nearly shouted, Hongbin already rushing over to squeeze N into a hug. The bruises hurt badly with the pressure but the joy far overwhelmed the pain. Ken joined quickly.  
   
"Hyung, I thought you were going to die in there...!" Was Ken crying?! "Its okay, Ken, I'm okay. Leo..." he hesitated. "Leo let me go." They both jerked back in shock. "He what?! Why?! And what did they do to you...?!" N sat back on the nearby couch. There'd be a lot of explaining to do.   
   
"I... It... It's hard to talk about. But Leo realized that what they were doing was wrong so... he let me leave." He knew from their faces that neither of his friends believed him. It was all he could do to keep from leaking to them what had happened in detail while he was held hostage. Ken would probably kill Ravi. Hongbin would torture him first.   
   
Hongbin sighed. "Well... I'm glad you're back. You look like a mess though, hyung. You're all bruised up." Hongbin's eyes trailed up his body, addressing the injuries until they stopped at neck. The tiger faunus smiled melancholically. "He couldve at least taken the damned collar off. It looks so weird, seeing you with one."   
   
Ken interrupted bluntly, "You look like you're claimed, hyung." He noticed how N flinched at the derogatory word and quickly apologized. "What I meant though... As much as I want it to be a happy reunion, and as glad I am that you're okay..." Ken sat down in a chair across from the teo on the couch, leaning his elbows on his knees and folding his hands. "You probably shouldnt stay here for too long." N bowed his head. "I can talk to the others, I...."  
   
Hongbin shook his head. "You havent heard what we've heard from them. They're calling you a traitor, a fucktoy for Leo. They elected Gdragon as the new leader." N's eyes slowly widened. No... Gdragon was crazy, he fought just to fight, not for the sake of morals or equality. "He's going to run our rebellion into the ground..." N whispered faintly. Ken grimly responded, "He promised to get back at you, hyung. You have to leave."   
   
"It's too late for that." A new voice radiated from the door, and they all turned quickly. The man there smirked, orange hair glinting in the rising sun's light. Teal scales sparkled over his body, decorating his parts of his cheeks and small portions of his arms. His eyes were yellow and reptillian, staring N down with a proud glance.   
   
"Gdragon..." Ken mumbled nervously, all three of them rising to their feet quickly in preparation to defend themselves. The man strolled into the room, and N didnt move away as a long finger was stroking his bruised neck, rimming his collar. "Aw, how cute. No helmet AND a collar? I'm glad you're finally accepting yourself, Yeonie." N's eyes went wide. "H... how do you know that name..."   
   
Gdragon laughed boldly, shoving N out of his way as he paced around the central table. "Don't you remember? You were regestered, tagged if you will, while you were in your government home. Its so easy to find your information now. By the way, did you enjoy how Leo pampered you? You seemed comfortable enough in his arms." Gdragon slipped out a tablet, holding it up. As if planned, it was paused right at the moment where Leo was stroking his hair as he cried.   
   
The lizard faunus pointed casually to N's face. "What's that on your cheek, Yeonie? Was Leo pleased with your treatment?" And N was lunging forward, tackling Gdragon to the ground with a growl. Hongbin tried to rip his friend off of the new leader but to no avail. The cat faunus, eyes nearly glowing with anger, slammed his fist down on Gdragon's face. "Shut the fuck up!" N snarled as he punched. This wasnt good, Ken and Hongbin working together to finally pull N off of the other faunus.   
   
Gdragon rose slowly to his feet, his smile gone now as his lip dribbled blood down his chin. "It doesnt matter now," he growled. Suddenly a few faunus were behind him in the doorway... then more... then more. They were all smirking or glaring, dark expressions that N hadnt seen on the people he recognized before. "Take him to the cells. If he's so against being a catboy we'll help him out."   
   
"What?" Hongbin's eyes narrowed cautiously, standing in front of N to defend him from the mob. Ken opened and closed his jaw, readying his sharp teeth in case he had to use them. Gdragon stepped back, continuing to talk to the crowd. "I have business to attend to. When I come back, cut off his ears, cut off his tail, rip out his canines. If he wants 'equality' so bad give it to him! We'll be a BETTER species than humans! Why settle for less when we can take it all!"   
   
The crowd was cheering, and a bull faunus marched in. Hongbin went to slash him with his claws but he was smacked aside, hitting the wall hard and falling still. Ken bit down with sharp teeth on his arm but he just took the wounds, using Ken's grip to slam him against the table. N didnt have any safety mechanisms like the others did. He rolled under the table as he was nearly grabbed, the table shatterinf under the bull faunus' strong fist. He jumped over a kick, he ran for the window and he was almost out when he was grabbed by the neck and yanked into a violently strong grip.   
   
He was being dragged out the door, Ken crawling to his feet and running after him, Hongbin having fallen unconscious from the heavy blow he took. But the crowd parted for Gdragon and the bull faunus and swallowed Ken, shoving him down. "N-hyung...!" he called to no avail.  
   
The cell was a small six by six room with a barred door. "Let me out!" N growled, but Gdragon just stood with a hand on his hip on the other side, smirking. "You shouldve just stayed with your master, Yeonie." And with that he turned and walked out.   
\---------------------------------------  
   
"Hongbin...!! Hongbin get up!" He opened his eyes too fast and his vision blurred and swirled. He knew Ken was the mass of colors before him though because of his voice. "Thank gosh, are you okay?" He groaned. Fuck that bull faunus, his head hurt bad. "I'm fine," he responded, using the wall to help himself stand.   
   
"N's in the cell... Gdragon's planning on cutting off his ears and tail tonight."   
   
"What?!" Hongbin snapped back to reality immediately. "We have to get him out!" But Ken shook his head. "They said they'd do the same to us if we even tried to break into the cell, and the faunus that took us all down is guarding him so no one gets him out..."   
   
Ken sighed. "I knew he shouldnt have come here..."Hongbin hugged his throbbing head. "Its not like he had much choice... Damn this situation!" Suddenly though, the tiger faunus got a determined look on his face, marching to the open door. "Where are you going?" Ken asked warily.  
   
Hongbin turned, determination crossing his expression. "I'm going to get Leo. If he cared enough to let N out, he'll care enough to save him. I'll kill him if he doesnt. You stay here and make sure they dont do anything before I get back!"   
   
"Hongbin wait!!" But the tiger faunus was gone. Ken sighed, rubbing his eyes. Would Leo even care...? He wouldve originally laughed at the thought, but the concern on the general's face when N was crying... Maybe there was some hope after all.  
 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update here, please read chapter 6 if you haven't. ♥
> 
> Also sorry for the lack of spacing, I put the spaces between paragraphs but it won't stay that way :(

He was stroking soft red hair, listening to the small moans from beneath him as he rolled his hips forward. A thin tail curled around his thigh as the smaller form writhed and gasped beneath him. "Hakyeon, Hakyeon," he sighed, delving into the warmth below, and...  
...his eyes shot open. Leo groaned as he tried to figure out what had happened, where he was. The ceiling of his bedroom was white and rough, the blankets were strewn all around... Damn it, not again.  
Leo found himself constantly thinking about N. It started off as tiny regretful thoughts that he quickly shoved from his mind, but then it continued to more. He couldnt tell his dreams to shut up when he wasnt conscious, and it was getting annoying waking up to a damned hard-on begging for attention every morning.  
Had N cast a spell on him or something? Had that flowery scent drugged him? He didnt know how faunus worked, especially cat faunus (he refused to go to clubs, one of the few places where most of the race resided). He felt embarassed and even slightly disgusted with himself. How could he feel this way towards his enemy? Defeated or not, N was still not someone he should be so damn attracted to.  
He dragged himself out of bed and paced across the room to a small mirror hanging on the concrete wall. His hair was a mess and he looked exhausted. Damn N for doing this to him. After fixing up, showering, and taming his 'little problem' that the dream had caused, he hurried out to do his job.  
Things were going well for the most part. The men were organized and there were no confirmed attacks so far. It didnt make too much sense that the faunus were holding back; maybe N had gone back and talked some sense into them, told them to stop fighting. No, Leo thought, that wouldnt make sense either. N wasnt the type to give up so easily.  
As he was standing on the wall around their building, standing lookout with a few of his guards, he suddenly caught sight of a figure running across the horizon, drawing closer. "What's that?" A guard asked, Leo taking the telescope from him and peering in... It was a faunus.  
A single faunus? Was it trying to sneak in? If so it was doing a shit job in being inconspicuous. Maybe it was ahead of an army.... No, there was no one following behind it. "What's going on..." Leo mumbled to himself before turning and calling into his radio's microphone.  
"A single faunus approaching fast. It cant be that dangerous on it's own. Capture it and bring it in for questioning." And he watched as guards rushed out of their 'fortress,' the faunus quickly engaging to fight them but easily being overwhelmed by sheer number.  
He could hear yelling from near the entryway, and one phrase he caught made him curious. "Let me talk to Leo!! Kill me if you damned want to but let me talk to Leo first!!" This was interesting, most faunus feared his name let alone his prescence. He made his way towards the voice.  
It was a tiger faunus, a male with honey brown hair who looked VERY unhappy with his situation. The guards had his arms cuffed behind his back, and even six of them were having trouble trying to get him to hold still so that they could put the regulatory collar on him. "I'm NOT wearing that, just let me talk to Leo!"  
"I'm here." Everyone froze as Leo approached, an eyebrow raised in mild interest. "What do you want? It's pretty stupid to just run to our base then refuse to follow our rules." The tiger faunus narrowed his yellow eyes, but seemed to have more important things to say than insults.  
"N is in trouble, and since its your fucking fault I want you to fix it." A few guards started to chuckle but shut up quickly when they saw that their general wasnt amused at all. "How is it my fault? I let him go, that's enough kindness to an enemy leader isnt it?"  
"They're going to cut off his ears and tail and rip out his teeth tonight. And since you're not a faunus, a good comparison to that is someone cutting off your fingers. The entire rebellion hates him now and its your fucking fault, he hasnt done anything to deserve this!" The tiger faunus was yelling now, and a guard used the distraction to click the collar around his neck.  
"Tell me if you need me to shock or tranquilize, sir," the man said, but Leo shook his head. "Not necessary." He stepped forward, standing directly in front of the restrained male. "What makes you think that I care?" The faunus' eyes grew wider for a moment before narrowing. "I know you're not the soulless asshole you make yourself out to be. You know that you and Ravi took things too far." Leo prayed that Hongbin wouldnt mention him comforting N in front of his guards. They also thought he had no sympathy, that didnt need to change.  
Hongbin seemed to notice this and paused, continuing slowly. "N isnt a threat to you anymore... And if I have to bring this up, I will. He's still wearing that collar, and a week ago you said he was your pet." Leo blinked, the surprise evident on his face. He never expected a faunus of all people to accept one of their own being claimed.  
"So if I cant get you to understand or feel sympathy, at least go take back what's yours... He's my best friend, you're the only chance we have!" Was the tiger faunus about to start crying...? But Leo suddenly remembered. N and this faunus, as well as another, were always side by side on the battlefield. This wasnt a lie.  
"One last question. What's your name?" The faunus was tense, and very obviously afraid of Leo's possible 'no.' "It's Hongbin," he mumbled shakily. The guards looked up in anticipation as Leo fell silent for a moment, then...  
"Take Hongbin to a holding cell, dont harm him or interrogate him. If you do, I'll know." The guards grumbled. They always enjoyed toying with new faunus prisoners. Hongbin quickly asked, "Are you going to help him?" Leo glanced back and softly replied, "I'm just taking back what's mine, like you said." And the tiger faunus allowed himself to be taken away.  
Leo had chosen his words carefully. He'd save N, but the guards wouldnt see it as him being wimpy if he used the excuse that N was now his property. He never actually considered N as a slave or a pet before, but now he wasnt sure about their relationship. That didnt matter right now.  
He collected twenty of his most trusted men, armed up, and gave orders to get in and out without drawing attention. Because in the end, it was his fault that this was happening. And he'd stop things before they got even more out of hand.  
\-----------------------------------  
N felt hopeless, more angry at himself than anyone. If he were a different faunus, a strong or an armed one, he could get out of the cell easily. Hongbin had claws, Ken had teeth, they were both physically strong... But what was he? Just a stupid cat.  
He stared at his tail as he flicked it back and forth. He wondered how bad it would hurt when it was cut off, how strange it would feel to not have an appendage there anymore. His fingers grazed his ears and he wondered if he'd be able to hear properly with just holes in his head. He rolled his tongue along his sharp canines... He didnt necessarily want to be a cat faunus, but he couldnt imagine living wthout these things.  
There was a small noise, and he glanced up halfheartedly as the bull faunus leaned against the doorway, obviously bored. The barred window showed that the sun was setting... It'd be time soon.  
"If you're so bored, just leave. Its not like I'm going anywhere," N muttered, the bull faunus glaring him down and replying with, "Your tricks wont work on me." 'Tricks.' Cute. N leaned back against the cell wall, staring up at the ceiling. Where would he go? He wouldnt even be accepted at a whorehouse if they got rid of his catlike features. Maybe he'd just die on a street somewhere. It was sad how that almost sounded more appealing than selling himself out.  
There was a small gasp, almost a choking noise, and his head shot up. A small blue dart was sticking out of the bull faunus' neck, the man teetering before collapsing... What?  
He was not expecting what he saw after. Leo rushed in, wearing all black with the same short ponytail sticking out the backside of a dark baseball cap. "What... What are you doing here?" N asked in shock. Leo grabbed the keys from the bull faunus and unlocked N's cell. "Getting you out, let's go."  
"Why the hell would you want to help me?" N didnt budge. There had to be something more to this. Some exchange Leo was expecting from him. His arm was being grabbed and he was yanked out of the cell, dragged out the door quickly. "That doesnt matter right now, lets go!"  
N saw a small group of humans surrounding the room, every faunus unconscious on the ground except for Ken, who was standing with them. The shark faunus' eyes lit up when he saw his friend. "Come on, N, let's go before Gdragon gets back," he called. N didnt know where they were going, he didnt know why Ken was teamed up with the humans, he didnt know where Hongbin was, and he didnt know why Leo was saving him... but he didnt ask. He let himself be rushed away from the base, confusion spinning through his head along with the relief of not losing his ears or tail that night.  
\-------------------------------  
Leo himself escorted Ken and N to the holding cells. Hongbin sat on a bench inside, jumping to his feet and rushing to the bars when he saw his two friends. "You're alright!" he sighed in relief. At N's confusion, he explained himself. "I... asked Leo to save you. Dont get mad."  
The cat faunus smacked him softly on the cheek, scowling playfully before smiling with warmth. "Thanks Binnie." Ken glanced between the two, shuffling on his feet. "So I take it I'm gonna have to wear one of those collars too?" Leo nodded, leaning back against the wall. "We've deactivated the shock and tranquilizing mechanisms. You'll be fed regularly and given futons. Because you're prisoners you'll have to be leashed to a guard at all times if you choose the leave the cell, and you're not allowed to leave the facility."  
These rules did NOT sound like rules that were given to prisoners. "Why are you being so nice to us? Arent we hostages or whatever?" Leo shook his head before staring straight towards N, the catboy staring right back in surprise. "I take care of what's mine." And with that, he locked the cell behind Ken and strolled off.


	8. Chapter 8

N was livid. Hongbin and Ken together had to hold the shorter male back from attempting to strangle Leo through the bars. He was NOT anyone's possession, especially not Leo's. Ken's hand was clamped over his mouth so his insults and swears were too muffle to do much good. After his two friends forced him to chil out with tickle threats (damn Ken for always tickling him), N sulked and stared around the cell.

It was big, the size of a bedroom. There were three futons laid out side by side in the back corner and a small table with three chairs on the other side. If it werent for the grey concrete walls and solid barred door, N mightve found this place to even feel kind of homey.

Hongbin made his way to one of the futons and plopped down, sighing and running his finger over his new collar. "This is so uncomfortable... How are you used to it already?" he groaned. N, still irritable about being restrained, replied sassily, "It's far more comfortable when there's not electricity coming out of it. You're lucky, Lee Hongbin." The tiger faunus rolled his eyes as the motherly scolding. "Yes, N-eomma."

Ken however was still standing by the bars, staring down the hallway with what seemed like intense interest. N paced over, tilting his head but not seeing anything crazy... "What's got you so focused?" N asked teasingly, squinting but still not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

Ken glanced around as if he were making sure no one was around to hear him whisper to the other to, "One of those guards is like... really hot." Hongbin immediately darted up, dashing to the bars. "Which one?" he whispered quickly. There were five men conversing down the hall.

"That one." N followed Ken's finger that surely, oh surely wasnt pointing at Ravi of all people... "The one in the green?" N asked hopefully. Maybe it just so happened that Ravi was in the way of Ken's pointing. But... "No, the one in the black jacket. White-ish, kinda curly hair?" Ken spun around argumentatively as both of his best friends groaned.

"He's not THAT hot. You got me all hyped over nothing," Hongbin pouted, marching back to the futon and laying down, probably exhausted from running the entire way to the base from the camp. But N had much better reasons to be uncomfortable with this.

"He's a complete asshole. Dont even go near him," N spat irritably before going to his own futon to curl up under the blankets. He was pissy at Leo and pissy at Ken and VERY pissy at Ravi and even MORE pissy at the rebellion, and being so pissy was getting to be really tiring. When he peeked out though, Ken was still staring out dreamily at Ravi. This had no chance of turning out well.

The next morning they were woken up by someone yelling and clapping their hands right by the cell. Hongbin had a pillow over his head, obviously very determined to keep sleeping no matter the racket, and Ken was groaning as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. When N looked up he recognized the person making the noise.

"Hyuk... Right?" The person stopped, seeming surprised that N remembered his name before smiling brightly. "Right! You remember! It's nice to see you again, N, and like I hoped, in much better conditions." The cat faunus shrugged a bit, unable to hide the quirk of a smile on the corner of his lip. "I mean, I'm still locked up in an enemy base." Hyuk scowled. "Enemy? After all Leo did to save you? I dont agree with that."

N didnt have time to really process this before Hyuk was speaking on another topic. "I'm here to check on your condition. May I come in?" N nodded, unsure on why Hyuk even asked in this situation but enjoying the respect he rarely recieved.

"Who." Hongbin growled. He wasnt a morning person, and someone unfamiliar walking up to him while he was resting would get most faunus a little on edge with their instincts. "This is Hyuk. When I was... last here, he treated my wounds. He's a really nice guy." Hongbin grumped sleepily, but his claws werent slipping out of his knuckles so N decided that that was a sign of acceptance.

He sat still, allowing Hyuk to check him. The burn around his neck had almost faded completely away, for which he was grateful for; it hurt having the collar rubbing against it all the time. The bruises from Ravi were slipping from dark purple to lime yellow, so that was a good sign. Really he was fine other than a few knicks here and there... Until Hyuk got to his ankle.

N flinched a little as a sharp pain stung through his leg, and Hyuk tsked. "You shouldnt have walked so much on it! Jeez, you probably made it worse," the medic pouted, but carefully wrapped up the sprained limb.

He then moved on to Ken, who seemed fine despite a large bruise on his arm from being smacked around by the bull faunus. And next was... "Hongbin, right? I'm Hyuk. Can I see if you have any injuries?"

Hongbin sat up, messy hair poking up slightly and sticking to his forehead, sleep swollen eyes giving him an almost cute look. "I dont," the tiger faunus replied dully. Hongbin wasnt good with opening up to people, especially humans. He was more attached to those who he was used to having around him. But rather than being offended by the tiger faunus' rudeness, Hyuk smiled softly and knelt down beside Hongbin's futon. "I know its hard to trust me since yesterday we were on opposite teams, but I really am here to help."

N didnt expect Hongbin to budge. He'd probably just snap at Hyuk and retreat to the underside of his blankets. But to his surprise, Hongbin slowly nodded. Hyuk released a relieved breath before getting to inspecting.

Ten minutes passed. "You must've hit your head pretty hard... There's dried blood and a wound in the back. I can wash it out of your hair in a bit, but for now do you have a headache? Hongbin shrugged but mumbled a soft 'Yeah' and the medic slipped a small bottle out of his messenger bag.

"It's painkiller. You dont have to take it if you dont trust me but..." And before Hyuk could even continue Hongbin was swallowing down the pill the moment it was dumped into his hand. The three others in the room blinked in mild surprise and Hongbin growled a little at the overwhelming attention. "If you took care of N then I trust you enough..." he mumbled before curling back up into his blankets, only the tip of his striped tail poking out from the side of the futon.

Hyuk smiled softly before standing and brushing himself off, stretching a bit. "Well, thankfully you all seem in good health. N, make sure to not walk too much without crutches or something, I'll leave some out.... Oh right!" The medic smacked himself on the cheek a little. "Government rules state that you have to be under guard if you leave the cell, soooo...."

"N, you're assigned to Leo since your technically the 'most dangerous." Hyuk rolled his eyes at 'dangerous' and N felt his fur raising again in his irritation. Great, to leave the cell he'd have to be fucking leashed to the guy who had just claimed to own him. Fan-fucking-tastic. "Hongbin, your assigned to me!" He tried to seem excited but it was obvious that he was kind of nervous. Hongbin didnt respond, only curling further into his blankets, obviously irritable with the entire situation (that made two of them). "And Ken.... You're with Ravi."  
N's eyes darkened at the same time as Ken's lit up. "Woo!!" The shark faunus cheered, Hyuk not complaining with at least one faunus being happy with the circumstances but pulling N to the corner of the cell anyway to talk in private.

"What Ravi did to you.. it was awful, I know. But he knows hes done wrong and he feels bad for it. You were a hostage and he was being racist and it was wrong." N's chocolate ears fell flat against his crimson hair and he bowed his head, not necessarily wanting to hear what Hyuk had to say but knowing that he wasnt being decieved or anything by the kind medic. "But Ravi's learned that it was wrong, and he wont hurt Ken like that. I promise."

"And what if he does?" N asked, biting his lip a little with the worry and the attempt to tone down his anger towards the white-haired male. Hyuk smiled weakly. "Then I'll let you get him back for it however you want."  
\------------------------------------------  
Three days passed. Leo was on his way to drop off food for the three in the large cell on the bottom floor, his hands full of small plates of meat, rice, and vegetables. He always thought it would be a hasstle or something irritating to have to take care of three faunus suddenly, but he found that it was one of the most relaxing times of his day. Rather than worrying about attacks and the rebellion and paperwork he could pretend to not be amused at the rowdy faunus' antics.

Today was no different. He approached the cell to find N and Hongbin wrestling on the floor, Ken marking scores on the floor with a piece of chalk that Hyuk had given him. A playful hum echoed through the room, and Leo realized with mild surprise that N was purring, never considering that cat faunus did that like cats did. Looking at the score on the wall, Leo found himself raising an eyebrow in surprise.

Hongbin had two points.... and N had four. Wasnt N weaker? He was smaller physically for sure, had less visible muscle. But as he watched, he found himself entranced with the way N fought like this. He's use Hongbin's weight and strength against him, using his own flexibility to curl around the other male and pin him to the ground. Ken marked another point for N with a woot before realizing that they werent alone. "Oh... Hi Leo!"

Hongbin, who was currently pinned to the floor, blinked up before shoving N off halfheartedly, his striped tail flicking back and forth. "Is that food?" The catboy growled a little before looking towards Leo cautiously. Ken and Hongbin had left the cell with their designated guards a few times now... But N refused to speak to Leo. He didnt leave for anything, not even to use the restroom. It was getting irritating that he was being glared down all the time after saving the faunus' life.

Leo sighed and unlocked the cell door, slipping in through the crack made and locking it behind him. He didnt necessarily expect any of them to run for it but habit demanded that he be careful anyway. He placed the plates down on the table in the corner and watched as the faunus rushed over, seeming almost like children in their haste. It wasnt like they were starving; They had breakfast that morning.

He leaned back against the wall, watching them chow down, his eyes specifically lingering out the crimson-haired faunus who was making quick work of the chicken slices. He couldnt help but notice how N's throat waved when he swallowed, how his slick tongue dragged along his fingers to suck off the juice....

No no no no! No! He spun around flustered by his own thoughts, planning on walking out before he heard the faunus whispering. "Hyung, ask him," Hongbin mumbled. "No," N hissed in reply before a loud voice echoed through the cell. "Leo! Can you take N hyung for a walk?" There was a smacking noise and the general turned carefully to see N with his arms crossed tightly and Ken nursing his red arm. He didnt necessarily know what to do. N sounded very against it, so why were his friends edging him on?

"Hyung, you're gonna piss your pants at some point and I know I heard you complaining yesterday about missing the sun." Hongbin accepted the dark glare he received for selling the catboy out, but Leo sighed. "N, lets go."

Chocolate eyes were narrowed towards him in a flash. "Maybe I dont WANT to go with you." Was N seriously still pissy about what Leo had said before? Leo sighed, a hand falling to his hip. "And maybe I order you to. I dont want to have to clean up after you when you cant hold your bladder anymore."

"Who are you to order me?!" N shouted with a growl, standing up so forcefully from his chair that he almost knocked the table over. "I already told you I'd rather be dead than be your stupid pet so...."

And Ravi was walking up to the cell, hands thrown in his pockets. Ken smiled brightly and waved regardless of the situation. Even after meeting Ravi and having to be leashed to him, he was still dumbfoundedly attracted to the white haired male. But though Ravi waved back, he didnt smile. He was holding up a tablet...

"This, Cha Hakyeon, is your profile, your regestration form. And regardless of what you want to believe, right here..." He scrolled down and N froze, gritting his teeth. "...Is Leo's name under the heading 'owner.' While Ken and Hongbin have been regestered under the government, Top put you under Leo's name." Hongbin glanced up at the older faunus, slowly taking his hand in a mild attempt to comfort but knowing it wasnt working by how tense N was. Even Leo knew. "Ravi... Cut it out," the general whispered softly. His adviser shrugged. "Ken, you ready to go?"

The shark faunus glanced over nervously at N, who was frozen in place with his fists tight at his sides, eyes narrowed and teeth barred. He didnt know how to help... "Yeah," he mumbled. "Let's go."  
\-------------------------------------  
And N was rushing forward, tackling Leo to the ground. Hongbin yelled out his name but didnt act once he realized that N wasnt being violent. Leo watched the catboy in surprise and with a high guard. He had lied about disabling the shock from their collars to bring them comfort, and while he wouldnt use it unnecessarily, he would if he had to. The remote was always in his pocket.

But N wasnt choking him or punching him. He was iust sitting over him, and this close Leo realized that the other male's eyes were glossy with unshed tears. His chest felt heavy, and not just because someone was sitting on it... He didnt like seeing N like this.

"You think its funny? Just to go around bragging about how you're my master now? You think I'm just going to learn your stupid tricks and have to beg you for basic needs and..."

"Hakyeon." He had never said that name out loud before and it felt smooth from his tongue. He didnt sound angry, didnt sound demanding, and his calmness shocked N into falling quiet. Hongbin was probably speechless at the situation but Leo couldnt see and didnt care at the moment. He looked straight into N's tear-filled eyes.

"You're only a pet in title. If I didnt have you regestered over my name specificallg, anyone in the government could order you around, and since most people here dont like you that would put you in danger. I put you under my name to keep you safe, as much as you may not believe that." The cat faunus glared down but seemed to be considering these words. "The men didnt want me to help you a few days ago, so the only excuse I could use that wouldnt put both of us in a bad situation was that you were my property." N glared and Leo quickly countered what he had just said. "BUT... You're not. Even if the documents say it and the men think it, you're not and I wont treat you as such. You've proved yourself to be more than just an animal."

It was quiet, almost dead silent besides the echoing noises from down the hall. Then N slowly slipped off of Leo, crossing his legs and bowing his head to hide his face. Leo sat up carefully, unsure if he had made things better or worse until....

"Can I leave the cell?" The general smiled softly and rose to his feet, reaching out a hand to help N do the same. "Sure," he replied gently. "Let's go."  
\--------------------------------------  
"How the hell do you swim so fast?" Ravi was gasping and panting, holding on to the edge of the slick wall. They were at the pool for the second time since Ken had arrived. Ravi had always been easily the fastest swimmer in the entire building, but every time Ken begged to race the faunus would outspeed him in moments.

"I'm a shark faunus you idiot," Ken replied proudly, not even slightly tired from the fifth race in twenty minutes. Ravi splashed water his way and Ken dramatically cried out, sinking into the water and pretending to die. The first time it had happened Ravi had panicked, not realizing that Ken could breathe underwater. It was hilarious to pop back up four minutes later, completely fine. Ravi's face was priceless. Now though, the side-general knew the trick was coming.

Ken swam silently beside Ravi's feet, planning on jumping up and pulling the other male under. He bent his knees, smirked a little, then threw himself up.... only to be caught by strong arms.

"Gotcha!" Ravi laughed, Ken blushing as he realized that their bare chests were pressed together and Ravi's strong arms were wrapped around his body. "Aaah! You win you win!" He cried out in a fluster, struggling and splashing water everywhere until Ravi let go. Ken crawled out of the pool, taking a deep dramatic breath. "Time to go back?" Ravi asked. Ken smiled playfully. "Yep!"

As they were walking back, the leash dangling from the loop in Ken's collar and hooked at the other side on Ravi's belt, they heard familiar voices from around the corner and down the hall.

"You know we're not enemies anymore." It was Leo, his soft tone quiet and hard to make out. N replied soon after. "I know... but its weird." There was a pause and Ken and Ravi glanced towards each other, both unnaturally curious. "Let's just... take a peek," Ken mumbled and Ravi nodded, the two shuffling to look around the corner.  
N and Leo were seated side by side on a bench by a large window with a nice view of the garden. Neither of them were looking at the other, instead staring out at the plants and small field.

"It's like... Ive always made choices for everyone and now I dont have any control... Its annoying." Leo nodded slowly. It was weird seeing the two of them getting along so well as to just sit down and talk about feelings, but there they were.

"...And the group that I made wants me dead now, and all the things I had worked toward... Now the opposite is happening."

"You're not a slave, N," Leo mumbled, knowing that the other would feel this way as long as he was locked up and wearing a collar. But N responded differently. "Maybe not me, but I'm not the only faunus out there. Almost all of us are in bad situations, and not all of us have the ability to fight it like I have. I thought I could help them since I was free but now..." he trailed off slowly.

Leo sighed softly, folding his hands in his lap, seeming to be contemplating these words. "I... never liked faunus. A group of faunus killed my mother and sister when I was young." N's head shot up in surprise and mild disbelief, but Leo's expression was dark. He was being honest.

"...So when the head of the government asked who would fight the rebellion, I stood up immediately. I wanted to get back at the group that killed my family. I thought all faunus were evil beings controlled by instinct.."

N bowed his head slowly, not planning on arguing. So Leo had a reason to be mad and go to extremes, just like he did.... He shouldve expected it, but now he realized just how selfish it was to assume Leo was plain evil. "I guess we both were kind of blind," the faunus mumbled. Leo nodded in agreement. "But after I saw you after... after we did that to you, I realized that I had been wrong, that you were a person too and you could be hurt and treated unfairly as well. So N..."

What Leo said next shocked both of the eevesdroppers into almost gasping and revealing their positions. "Even if I'm supposed to fight this rebellion, I wont hurt faunus just because theyre faunus anymore. I wont judge like that... And I want to apologize."

N's eyes were wide before he slowly nodded. "Me too... I'm sorry for your family and for assuming you were complete garbage and..." Leo narrowed his eyes teasingly. "Garbage?" There was a pause... and then they were laughing. N's laugh bright and beautiful and echoing, Leo's soft and gentle and calming.

Ken felt a pull at his collar and looked up at Ravi who was grinning softly, the leash tugging him away from the view of the two. "Come on," the adviser whispered softly. "Lets get back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh I'm not too proud of this chapter haha... hopefully its okay


	9. Chapter 9

The days went on rather smoothly like this. He'd roll out of his messy pile of blankets around seven am, an assumed time since they didn’t actually have visual access to a clock. He'd stretch his arms, twist his back a bit, then shake awake the other two faunus passed out at either side of him. Ken would pop up right away, Hongbin would fight tooth and nail. N was used to the scratches and bruises, and he'd always win over the tiger in the end. 

 

Hyuk was the only 'guard' always on a schedule, popping up at the cell's bars around seven-thirty with an enthusiastic smile and a far too optimistic morning quote that changed daily. N wondered if he had some calendar that gave him the things. "Behind every rain is a rainbow," he gleamed this morning, Hongbin sighing a little and rubbing his eyes, trying to disguise his blush behind his feigned irritation. N saw past it straight away. Hongbin WAS in his close circle after all. 

 

The tiger faunus always held his snark back when the cheerful medic was around, but he was even quieter than usual this morning. "Are you ready to get breakfast?" Hyuk asked kindly, Hongbin shaking his head. He actually looked cute when he was pouting and quiet and not baring his fangs like this. He was usually too aggressive to be seen as anything more than intimidating.

 

"My head hurts..." he mumbled quietly, rubbing his eyes. Hyuk's smile faded quickly and he unlocked the cell, hurrying to his assigned faunus. "Where? The front, the back?" Hongbin nodded at the latter option and Hyuk crawled up behind him, brushing brunette hair out of the way to examine the hidden skull. N and Ken shared a knowing glance, both failing at keeping a serious face.

 

Because Hongbin was totally lying. He was so obvious about it too, a terrible liar. He had been fine for sure when he was growling at Ken to get the fuck off of him that morning, he had been fine two seconds before he spotted Hyuk strolling down the hall.... It didn’t help his case that this was the fifth time this act had happened in a row. 

 

"Nothing seems wrong, it’s healing fine..." Hyuk mumbled, seeming completely stumped. N almost felt bad for the guy, getting played like this. "But it hurts," Hongbin whimpered and Hyuk felt his forehead, sighing. "I don’t know, Binnie... Maybe you're getting sick. This is a new environment after all." The tiger faunus' cheeks flushed at the nickname but he slowly nodded, taking a deep breath to try and hide it. "Here, let’s go to my office," Hyuk offered, helping the slightly older male to his feet. And once they were out of sight down the hall N and Ken burst out laughing at their friend’s fifth success in a row. 

 

Ravi always showed up between eightish and nineish. There was a jingle by the door and Ken's eyes lit up at the noise, turning quickly from his chalk drawing to see Ravi with a small grin, dangling his leash from his forefinger. "Ready to lose today?" the human sang, Ken smirking and rushing to the cell door. "For the first time ever? Forget it!" 

 

N sat at the chair by their meal table, chin resting on his palm and eyes cold towards the soldier. Him and Ravi's gazes met, his feline eyes narrowing, Ravi's expression softening. N wondered if they'd converse this time, if the human would apologize today like he hadn’t done yet.... But once Ken was leashed the man just gave a small, insignificant wave and walked off, childish male skipping off behind him.

 

And he would be alone for at least an hour. Leo was busy, and technically Leo and him weren't even getting along. Unlike his other two friends, N felt more uncomfortable than excited when Leo came to take him to the bathroom or to walk around in the gardens. Sure he didn’t like being locked up in the same old cell all the time, but he couldn’t remove the shame that being leashed gave. 

 

It wasn’t like Leo was being a jerk anymore. Mostly the general would just stay quiet, the two exchanging curt requests and following through in an almost tense silence. No matter how much anyone said otherwise, N still felt like a hostage here. What was freedom if you had to be locked up, collared, and constantly watched? 

 

It only made it twenty times worse that the rebellion was against him now. If he left he'd have nowhere to go. His two best friends were happy here and everyone outside was either out to kill him or to tie him up somewhere even less favorable. He felt himself hating his own body again... Why did he have to struggle so much, and why was it impossible to ever fit in? He despised being a catboy more and more as the days dragged passed.

 

"....yeon! Hakyeon!" His eyes shot open and he realized a few things very quickly. First he was on the floor. Second, he was unbelievably dizzy, attempting to sit up and being thrown back down by an altered sense of gravity. Third and most importantly, the general was leaning over him. 

 

Leo sighed in relief. He had walked in to grab N only to find the other male unconscious on the floor. He figured he was just sleeping at first, but the chair that was tipped over beside him and the way he wasnt waking up when shaken made him think otherwise. 

 

"Why did you pass out?" Leo groaned, rubbing his temples to ease the stress-built tension. Sure he mildly enjoyed coming to the cells, but with so much to worry about right now it didnt help that N was fainting. The faunus grumbled, using the table beside him to crawl up to his feet; His ears flattening against his head werent the only sign that showed he was unhappy. "I didnt..." the faunus mumbled. Leo rolled his eyes. So it was back to this immaturity again. 

 

"So you just took a nap randomly on the floor by a knocked over chair at ten in the morning for no reason?" N's tail flicked and he glanced away in a glare, refusing to look Leo in the eyes. The general sighed. "I'm taking you to see Hyuk. Lets go." 

 

Thats what it was, N realized slowly. He was being treated like a child and he absolutely hated it. "I'm not five. I dont need to be checked on every day," he whispered irritably, biting into his lip, letting his sharper canines sink into the soft flesh a bit. He didnt stop once he tasted the iron-flavored blood on his tongue, but Leo immediately knelt down.

 

Before he could realize it was going to happen, the pad of a soft finger was pressed against his lip. He felt a flicker in his heartbeat and shivered a little, slowly glancing up to see Leo only inches away, examining the fresh puncture wound on his lip. "Jeez, you're such a hassle," the general sighed, scratching the back of his head with his other hand. "Why cant you accept it here? Its not like we dont take care of you." N shook his head, backing away from the finger that was stationary on his lip. The tingles he was getting were too distracting and unnerving, especially because the cause was waiting for a response. 

 

"I want to be treated normally." The words stung a little in his throat because both men in the room knew that that wasnt possible. "Normally for a human, I mean... not for a catboy." He noticed the sad realization form in Leo's eyes, the other male sighing before standing and reaching a hand out. "I know. But that cant happen right now. Let's go." N allowed the leash to be clicked to his collar's loop, following the black cord behind Leo obediently, biting his lip in silence until the blood was trickling down his chin. 

 

\----------------------------------------------  
-Hongbin-

 

Hongbin felt a bubble of nervousness forming in his stomach when Hyuk shut the clinic door behind them. Sure, he'd been in here four times already for his so called 'condition,' but he was still nervous to be around the beautiful medic. Why was it okay for someone with such playful eyes and such a bright smile to exist? Why was it okay for that person to be an angel personality-wise in the process? 

 

"Sit on that table please," Hyuk said sweetly, digging through his supply cabinet and pulling out a bottle of pills that was all too familiar and probably quickly emptying. Hongbin wondered if it was destroying his liver taking all of this medicine unnecessarily but he didnt find himself feeling too worried about it. The tiger faunus plopped down on the edge of a sturdy table covered in waxy, sterile paper and waited with small jitters in his stomach for Hyuk to check him again.

 

He knew it was petty, playing on someone's gullibility like this, but there was no way on earth that he'd take the other option and tell Hyuk that he's cute and sweet and perfect and.... He must've been blushing because the medic hurried over. "You're all flushed...!" Before he could respond that he was fine, a warm palm was pressed against his forehead, then the side of his neck. 

 

"See? You're really warm... Maybe you do have a fever." Hongbin glanced away cautiously, feeling a bead of sweat trickle down his neck with nervousness. Hyuk leaned forward, as if checking the back of his head again and Hongbin jumped as he felt a warm whisper against his ear. "But Binnie… You dont have to fake sick to visit me you know."   
\------------------------------------------------  
-Leo-

 

The walk to Hyuk's office was an uncomfortable one. Leo could literally feel the frustration and hopelessness wavering from N's emotions, which was precisely why he refused to look back at the faunus. He felt guilty when he saw those eyes, once filled with fire and now hazed over with the confinement the faunus had done everything to avoid. Still, N wasnt fighting anymore. He ate, he slept, he didnt claw into Leo at every opportunity... Was it that he was actually realizing that he couldnt fight this?

 

No, Leo thought meekly, glancing behind him and sighing as he saw that the faunus' soft-looking bottom lip was bleeding again, the crimson trailing down his chin. He didnt even bother to worry about that now. It was probably N trying to be cooperative for his friends' sakes. The two other faunus had taken a liking to their situation, and any good leader would prioritize their group over themselves. 

 

Leo turned a corner and sighed once again. Here came the hardest part about making their way to Hyuk's office... They had to pass through both the break hall and the mess hall, two places where soldiers regularly gathered. Even though Ravi and Hyuk had made a connection and understanding with the faunus they had been granted watch over, the other men didnt get it. All they saw were that faunus were the enemy, and here on a leash was the enemy leader being marched down their halls in failure. And what better way to get revenge for their suffering than to humiliate the figurehead of the cause?

 

"General! I see you're taking your new pet for a walk!" Leo had practice keeping a blank, stern face, but it was hard for even him when he felt N flinch at the words. The faunus focused hard on the ground as they continued on. 

 

"Aww, he's shivering! Why dont we take him for a stroll right to the fuckin' burner and toss him in!" 

 

"Serves him right for what happened to Mina. Burn to death then burn in hell you filthy animal." 

 

Leo grit his teeth and tugged a little on N's leash, making the already lightheaded male stumble a bit. To the soldiers it would seem like a show of dominance, but Leo truly hoped N knew that the actual intention was to speed them up. Because even if his men thought that N was a heartless, vicious rebel, Leo knew differently. Leo knew damned well now that what they were doing to N was wrong as well.

 

"General, is he being a nice slut for you? Should we break him in?" 

 

"General! You should fuck him on screen and show those other animal mutants! They'll ditch his weak ass for sure!"

 

Little did they know, the rebellion had already abandoned N as a leader. Most information was reserved for the generals.... All the soldiers knew was that the rebellion was bad and the leader was worse. For all they knew they were bestowing karma and enjoying their victory in one act of dragging the catboy to the dirt. 

 

Leo looked back and regretted it. N looked nauseous, his fists so tight that his knuckles were white and the limbs trembled, his teeth visibly bared as he kept walking. They were almost out of the large break room, almost in the clear... And they got so damned close to no problems but...

 

N cried out and Leo spun around, his eyes not processing fast enough to even catch what was happening before him. At first N had collapsed to his knees, curling in on himself. And what had to be two seconds later the faunus was pinning a man down, punching at his face and chest wildly. 

 

A knife laid discarded on the floor beside the two figures, and the white t-shirt N wore was slowly being stained in the back with blood... The man was screaming as N's knuckles and nails tore into the flesh on his cheeks and chest, the faunus straddling the man and going at his body like a scratching post. Two soldiers tore N off of their friend, one restraining the faunus and the other dealing punch after punch to the catboy who was flailing to be released, coughing violently as his gut was hit. Leo didnt know how this had happened, especially so fast that he hadn’t been prepared for it, but it was way past time for it all to fucking stop. 

 

He marched up, superiority boasted in his pace as he grabbed the man decking N and threw him to the ground, yanking the faunus from the other man's grip. N was dazed, unable to support his own weight, but Leo refused to go easy on him in front of the men. This was a show now, and unless they were to think he was weak he'd have to punish N as well. 

 

So when the faunus stumbled into his arms he shoved the male down, N gasping a little as he collapsed and curled up immediately, ready for more blows to come. Leo left him there, turning to the man who was punching the faunus, wondering why he himself had such a strong anger towards this soldier right now. 

 

"Tell me what happened right fucking now or so help me all of you are going to suffer. And you'd better be completely honest." Having a tone that could scare a monster helped, and the men were quick to comply. 

 

"Park... he... he lost his sister in the rebellion and said he'd kill N even if it cost his badge and career..." one of the men stuttered, pointing to the man who was currently writhing on the ground, clutching his bloodied face. Leo wasnt going to take this, everyone in the room acting like a five year old.

 

"Park! You know damned well that this faunus is mine. Whatever he was before is irrelevant. Dont insult our victory by giving him the satisfaction of knowing his actions had this effect on you. If you were so willing to lose your badge for this then hand it over, I dont need someone who'll dodge clear rules for some personal grudge."

 

The men in the room fell silent, a hundred pairs of wide eyes focused on him. He was too pissed to care. Leo spun to the two who had gone to beat N and they both flinched. "Sir, he was attacking Park...! We were taking defensive measures..." 

 

"Go to your barracks right now. You two knew damned well that this would happen so dont even pretend to be oblivious." The two rushed out like their lives depended on it. And slowly now, Leo turned to the faunus at his feet. 

 

"And you...." His tone was harsh and catlike eyes flickered up in a wince to gaze at him cautiously. He could see the cogs turning in N's head, trying to process whether Leo was actually on his side, whether the obvious act of injustice that had just occurred would be considered at all. He didnt seem hopeful. "You're coming with me," Leo growled, grabbing N's collar itself rather than his leash and dragging the other male out of the room by the neck. 

 

After two minutes of dragging the slightly choking male down the hall, Leo pulled them into a supply closet and immediately dropped his act. He released N's collar, catching the faunus and slowly lowering him to the floor. N looked in serious pain, eyes squeezed shut and lips parted in a small gasp. Damn this, Leo thought helplessly. 

 

He turned the other male over and worked his shirt off his torso, sighing in relief that the slash across his back wasn't deep or anywhere near the spinal cord. "Now we really have to get you to Hyuk, huh...?" He softened his tone. N flickered his eyes open, and Leo noticed that his cheek was swollen, forshadowing a bruise that would surely form. The faunus' tail flicked a little and N quickly averted his eyes from the general. "I hate it here," the shorter male whispered with a weak breath. Leo replied with the only words he knew how to. 

 

"I know."   
\-------------------------------------------------  
-Hongbin-

 

"Wh... wha...?" Hongbin's eyes went wide and he crawled back a little before quickly shaking his head. "Thats not it!" Hyuk smirked, cocking an eyebrow. "You're like an open book, you cant fool me. Besides, I heard N and Ken-hyung talking about it." Damn those two!!! Hongbin swore he'd beat them when he got back to the cell, but for now he just felt a full wave of anxiety hitting. What human would find a faunus' crush on them as more than a joke? 

 

But Hyuk wasnt laughing, his grin wasnt condescending... and he was just inches away... Hongbin was positive his heartbeat was a drum echoing through the room. Maybe the medic was trying to give him a heart attack so he'd have one less patient. Yeah, that had to be it... because despite it being crazy, the other option made even less sense. 

 

The other option, of course, being that the human liked him back. There was no way. Hongbin was too aggressive, too condescending to be attractive to such a sweet person... Hyuk smiled as he leaned forward, a hand right above Hongbin's knee supporting his own weight and their lips almost grazing. Soft peppermint breath whispered out words that Hongbin echoed through his head like a mantra for what felt like hours.

 

"I know you're not as scary as you make yourself seem. You cant fool me, hyung." 

 

Hongbin couldnt believe what was happening. The cute medic was about to kiss him, the cute medic was about to kiss him, the... Hyuk was leaning in, their lips closing the microscopic gap to press gently against each other reluctantly, as if either of the two males were afraid they were doing something wrong. Hongbin forced himself to relax, his tight grip on the side of the medical table softening as he tilted his head, melting into those soft lips...

 

...And the door suddenly flung open.

 

The two dove away from each other, Hongbin falling backwards off the table with a thud to the floor and Hyuk slamming his head against a shelf behind him. The two groaned out, but Hongbin restored his control when he glanced to see who had rudely interrupted. 

 

"Holy shit, N!" The tiger faunus jumped to his feet, rushing to his friend and taking his face into his hands. "What happened to you?!" Leo allowed Hongbin to take the catboy's weight, and the tiger noticed that the general didnt look so hot himself. 

 

"Some of the men attacked him, he attacked back. The usual," Leo sighed, falling back in one of the arm chairs that sat by the door in a makeshift waiting-area. Hyuk groaned, taking N and escorting him to the medical bed he was just kissing Hongbin on.

 

“Seriously, you have the worst luck,” he muttered towards the cat faunus as he dug in his supplies. “Its like every time you’re actually healing you’re just getting hurt again…”

“Shut up…” N mumbled, obviously physically and emotionally exhausted despite it only being around one in the afternoon. The medic complied, gently maneuvering the catboy around to start dabbing a disinfecting solution into the shallow gash. Hongbin grit his teeth at the sight of his friend flinching at the sting of the solution before grabbing Leo’s arm and pulling the general to the other side of the room closer to the door, where a small barricade blocked their conversation from the other two. 

 

“How the fuck did he get hurt like that in the five hours since I left the cell? He’s tied to you for a reason!” the faunus hissed, fury burning in his eyes. Leo tensed a little, glaring to match the other. “He’s tied to me so he doesn’t get assassinated or raped, I don’t have a fucking forcefield that keeps us both perfectly safe. Mistakes happen.” Leo refused to accept the trickling guilt attempting to invade his mind. He’d done all he could do in that situation. Hongbin didn’t seem convinced though. 

“You think I’m just going to take that? He’s my best friend, I won’t just say ‘oh okay it was an accident that N got FUCKING STABBED!” For a whispered conversation, Hongbin sounded furious. “Well what do you WANT me to say?! I apologized to him already, I fired the damned guy who did it! Just be grateful, most hostages don’t get medical treatment.” And with that, Leo stormed off. Hongbin stood in a daze, half infuriated and half overwhelmed with the realization that he couldn’t fully blame the general for this, that he had lost the argument. He glanced back to see Hyuk patching up the wound, his friend’s fingers clenched tightly around the edge of the table… Unable to storm off like Leo had, he fell back into a chair and fumed silently.   
\-------------------------------------------------------------  
-Ken-

 

That night Ken returned with Ravi to the cell and sighed at the sight before him. N had a fresh bandage on his back that hadn’t been there that morning, and Hongbin was shoved under a pile of blankets, entire body hidden from sight as it usually was when he wanted to be alone. Ravi glanced at the shark faunus in mild confusion. They had personally had a great day of swimming and eating, so it was a little difficult to mold back to the fact that they were approaching a negative situation. The general, Ravi, slipped open the barred door and Ken hurried to N’s side. 

 

The red-haired male was awake, but zoned out beyond noticing that someone had entered the room. When Ken shook him, asked if he was okay, he just mumbled a faint ‘go away, Hwannie’ and curled up a little further into himself. Ken wished he knew how to help, but knowing that he was only making things worse right now, he backed off.

 

He didn’t even bother approaching Hongbin, knowing that the other male clearly wanted to be left alone since he hadn’t greeted the faunus entering the room like he usually did when Ken returned. With both of his friends in a soiled mood with no visible reason why, he honestly wished he was alone himself. He met Ravi’s concerned gaze and shrugged, smiling weakly. Ravi shrugged in return and, after confirming that Ken would be fine, locked up the cell and paced off with hands in pockets. 

 

Ken didn’t feel tired, in fact he was the opposite. Racing always got him buzzed, even when he was way faster than his human competitor and always won, so he was as awake as he’d ever be. But with neither of his friends being in the mood to talk and drawing just not seeming like the right thing to do in this moment, he curled up under his own blankets anyway and daydreamed quietly until sleep finally took him.   
\---------------------------------------------------------

 

Plans were running smoothly. Their numbers had increased from a measly few hundred to around a thousand active members, and the hype was intense. Everyone was buzzing to get to destroying things, killing people, all the common flare that was associated with rebellion. He had to admit, it was a major confidence boost to his leadership skills. 

 

Every so often he’d give a speech or two, and that kept the restless crowd at bay long enough for him to actually develop a thought out plan. After a month of fully taking leadership over the rebellion, GD was finally getting into the swing of being a leader… and damn did it feel good. Responsibility was for dumbasses who actually wanted to keep things in line, but the entire goal of this gathering was to riot, to fight the system, yada yada. ‘Win back faunus rights.’ The way he phrased it though, caught the rebellion by storm. 

 

“I know your shitty ex-leader always talked about how you should be equal to humans and whatever,” he started once the large group gathered outside of their city of tents to eat lunch. They all focused attentively, as if craving the excitement they knew they’d get from listening in. “But we can do better than that. What even are we? We’re IMPROVEMENTS, people! Some of us can see perfectly in the dark, some of us can breathe underwater, some of us can lift three times our own weight! What on earth about that makes us think we should settle for equal? Lets turn the tables! We’ll enslave them like they’ve enslaved us! We’ll drive them out of cities, we’ll force them to do work without pay! We’re stronger, we’re faster, there’s no way we can lose!” The rebellion was already whooting and cheering in full blast, and GD smirked internally as he saw the commotion rising further and further out of control. This…. This would truly be fun. 

 

“So let’s make a plan, everyone! First! Who’s our enemy right now?” he asked, pointing his microphone to the crowd.

 

“Humans!”

“The government?”

“That bastard Leo!”

GD clapped his hands and took back the mic. “Ding ding ding, that’s right! If we had to settle on one asshole of the millions of them out there, it would be Jung Leo, the one who’s actually calling the shots for our opponent. All your brother and sisters who were killed were ordered to be killed by this guy… So we’re gonna ruin him. Okay! So, considering that asshole, let’s find another small target to hit!” Various shouts from the crowd echoed up to his ears and he grinned at one. “You say N? The ‘leader’ that ditched you in a fit of weakness that led to sucking the general’s dick? Jeez, who called it? Do we have any cat faunus in this crowd?” The answer was obviously no, and everyone knew it. “That’s right. Because cat faunus aren’t made to fight, they’re made to be housepets, just like Cha Hakyeon is now! He’s betrayed you all, him as well as Lee Hongbin and Lee Jaehwan. Are we just going to let that happen?!” 

 

Screams probably echoed for miles. GD nodded determinedly. “That’s right! So since we can’t fight the entire human race at once, let’s go for the big targets. Jung Leo and Cha Hakyeon… I promise you, by the end of this week they’ll be begging for mercy! But we don’t give mercy to murderers and traitors, do we?!” ‘No’s’ echoed through the crowd… GD smiled playfully, finishing up his speech in one last raise. “That’s right. No. So let’s see how dirty we can play."


	10. Chapter 10

The cracked, water-damaged ceiling tiles above his bed were probably the most interesting things ever when he couldnt fall asleep. The room was eight roof tiles by ten roof tiles. Eleven tiles out of eighty were completely water-damaged... so around fourteen percent? Leo figured he had far more important things to do while awake, being the general of an army in the midsts of a rebellion, but he didnt have the motivation to go do paperwork right now. 

His mind drifted from the tiles to work to bright red hair and chocolate eyes in minutes, and he was so used to this happening by now that he allowed his brain to make up scenarios. A memory flickered up of him wiping away the blood on N's lip a few days before. His lips were so soft and smooth, and the way the faunus's eyes widened cutely... Leo wondered what it would be like almost ten times a day to kiss the other male.

In the gardens or in his office, sensually alone or surrounded by others who would stare in shock, kissing him gently or with overwhelming passion. He pictured their tongues wrestling, pictured N nipping softly at his bottom lip with his sharp canines, that rumbling purr he had heard almost a week ago showing his pleasure without words. He longed for something like this to happen badly, and usually he would force the thought out of his mind in a rush. But in these few instances where he let himself dream, not as a human wanting a catboy or a general wanting his hostage, but as a man wanting another beautiful man.... These were the most blissful moments he'd have besides actually being with the other.

Because Leo had fallen head over heels. He could barely believe that he had once hated N, and now he cursed his past self's naiivety for dispising someone without knowing a thing about them. 

He didnt understand where it had come from. At first it was just a mild case of thinking N was pretty attractive, but as the days went on and the events that had taken place unfolded, he found himself attached to the other male through much more than appearance. Even though he was previously the enemy. Even though he's a faunus, the species that killed his family. Even through everything, N was distracting his thoughts constantly.

When he'd let his mind wander there was no telling to where it would go, so he followed it on an adventure of daydreams. Kissing N at a cafe when the war was over and N didnt need to wear a collar anymore, when they could be equals. Taking N home to a cozy house, laying him down on the bed, making love to him and hearing the soft moans that he had heard the day when Ravi had worked N up too much as a method of 'training.' He found recently that he couldnt easily fall asleep without a certain cat faunus cuddling him in his mind.

The next morning started off normally. He woke up, cleaned up, went on a jog around the track to boost his energy, then got to work. Ravi was already in the tactical meeting room, eyebrows furrowed as he leaned over a large map of the continent of Crepescule that was glued onto a huge table in the middle of the room. When he heard the door open, the adviser general sighed, rubbing his eyes and turning to Leo with a dreary gaze.

Ravi looked tired, like he had been up since much earlier that morning planning a strategy. They hadnt forgotten about the rebellion, even with their recently gained 'hostages.' It was obvious that a group of this size wasnt going to back down just because they lost their leader, and if they were cooperating well enough to plan to get back at N, they had to already have a new person in command. Leo figured he'd ask N about this new person later that day; He'd avoided it as to not stir up bad memories, but it had been enough time for the emotions to settle. 

"So it doesnt seem like their camp has moved since you went to take N from them. Their numbers HAVE seriously increased though. We're estimating around a thousand faunus live in that makeshift town." Ravi's words set a damper to Leo's mood and the main general sighed, approaching the map and analyzing it. The faunus camp was five miles from their fort. It wouldnt be reasonable to position themselves so close to an enemy unless their goal was to attack. 

"Well they're obviously not on the defensive. I dont know what they're waiting for, why they havent attacked yet... Maybe they're getting a weapon shipment in?" But Ravi shook his head at the option. "We've been nonstop watching the area, no known dealers have gone in or out in the past week. I'm sure they're plotting something, I just can't figure out what." Leo nodded slowly, rubbing the bridge of his nose before falling back into an armchair, forcing his head to process the information for some sort of understanding. 

"Well, ask N about whoever took over. Maybe knowing how the new leader works might give us a clue as to how he thinks. I'd ask but your catboy would probably tear off my head if I even looked at him too long. Guess I deserve it though." Ravi sighed before stretching his back, concluding his session. "For now let's plan an offensive for tomorrow. We can go into the camp ourselves." 

Leo froze at Ravi's words as he realized what they meant. There was no way they could go in there without having to engage in a fight. Before N he'd be happy to kill faunus, but now...? The guilt was setting in before the plan was even set in stone. 

"I... want to do this peacefully," Leo muttered, knowing that the word 'peaceful' was one that a warbound army member should laugh at, but he knew Ravi well and knew he wouldnt mock him for it. "I know, Leo. I feel it too, after getting so close to Ken I cant look at faunus like in the same way that I used to. Fighting helps when you think your enemy is evil and mindless but...." The younger male scratched the back of his head, brushing down his white hair to smooth it out, having rustled it a bit by leaning his head down over the table for so long. "...but even though we know what they're fighting for is right, the way they're doing it is wrong. They killed innocent civilians, they're civil terrorists. And we have orders from up top.... We cant quit." 

Leo nodded faintly, tension in the room building a bit before the raven-haired male stood, stretched his arms, and shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "I'm going to go talk to N about this new leader. I'll leave the invasion's planning to you." Ravi smiled faintly, a hint of sadness evident behind his dark eyes though. "I'll see you in a bit then, Leo."  
\---------------------------------

N's eyes lit up when he caught sight of Leo approaching from down the hallway towards the cell. He was earlier than normal and wasnt expected until at least an hour or so later. Hongbin was already off with Hyuk, having gone on a walk around the track with his caretaker, and Ken was in his groggy, just-woke-up state. 

"Hyung's alwready here?" Ken slurred a little, blinking up through heavy-lidded eyes as Leo pushed his key into the lock, the other keys jangling at the turning motion. "Seems like it," N smiled, rising casually from his chair. While his heart fluttered everytime he saw the general, he refused to show his excitement. He'd accepted recently that Leo wasnt bad, that Leo was someone he could trust, but he'd feel embarassed, weak, and stupid if Leo ever found this out. 

Leo paced into the cell, sitting in one of the corner chairs and propping one leg over the other the way he did often when he sat, slipping off the forest green general's cap that he was supposed to wear constantly and twirling it on his finger. "I'm here to talk with you, Hakyeon, but it should be private. Will you come to my office with me?" 

Leo had taken to calling N by his real name, and it made N shudder a little everytime he heard it roll with that soft voice. N nodded with a faint shrug, trying to seem like he didnt care even though he enjoyed going with Leo out of the cell. "Sure I guess." Ken giggled, making hearts with his fingers and wearing dopey expressions to mock the cuteness. Like he could say anything, him and Ravi were far more attached. N tried to hide his blush as Leo stood, as Leo got super close to him, as Leo's long fingers grazed his sensitive neck when hooking the black cord leash onto his collar. He found his chest rising and falling a little quicker than before and forced himself to hold his breath to calm down. He didnt need Leo wondering why he was so flustered.

The walk to the office was a peaceful one, thank gosh, very few men patrolling the halls this early in the morning, most assigned to various tasks to prepare for the day. Leo pushed open one of the double doors, and the moment it was closed and locked he fumbled with the leash to unhook it from the faunus. "You dont need to wear this here, no one that cares is going to come in," Leo mutrered quietly before walking behind his desk and falling back into his leather office chair. 

N glanced around the room. He hadnt actually been in here since the time he was locked up here. He swallowed as he noticed the thick metal pole still extending out of the floor in the corner, the chain that had restrained him there lying unused on the ground nearby. He noticed that the carpet had a rather large, dark stain in that area, blood, his blood to be specific. Memories flashed back to Leo shocking him, Ravi forcing him to give head to random soldiers, Top stroking his tail when he was paralyzed from the drugs... A lot of bad things had happened in this room.

Leo seemed to notice N's hesitation to approach, the general sitting up a little straighter, his voice softening. "We can go somewhere else if you want. I figured you wouldnt want to be leashed or around the soldiers but if you're not comfortable...."

"No, this is fine," N quickly interrupted, forcing his feet forward to sit at the reasonably less comfortable chair across from Leo's desk, his fists balled in his lap and his tail whipping somewhat nervously from side to side. Leo was staring at him but he refused to meet those eyes until the general sighed, muttered an 'alright,' and got to the point.

"So the higher ups want us to invade the faunus camp..." N's bowed head shot up in surprise before his eyes trickled back down, finding focus on Leo's hands on the desk. Long, thin fingers, pale complexion. Hands that were soft on his skin when they touched him. He felt his anxiety steadily dimming down. "I see... What does that have to do with me?" he asked, careful not to sound rude or sassy. He truly didnt understand why he was involved after being kicked from his position as leader. Leo seemed to think differently. 

"I wanted to tell you so you could help me with this moral issue I've been having. We both know that this isnt going to be a peaceful surrender from them, we're going to havw to fight." N nodded that he understood, but why did he feel so upset over this, even after everything the faunus had done to him? Leo continued, "My thought was that if we could capture or, worst case, kill this new leader, we can at least manage the rebellion with as few casualties as possible. But I need to know about who this person is so I can know how they'll go about fighting us when we show up." 

N processed this. He didnt want to talk about Gdragon, the man who had stolen his rebellion, stolen his friends and followers, and had almost stolen his ears and tail from him as well. But he knew Leo was right. This was more important than his childish comfort. "His name is Gdragon, and like I was, he's not regestered in the government system. He's a lizard faunus. Bright orange hair, kind of reptilian eyes, scales all over... You'll know him if you see him from that description. He stands out quite a bit." 

Leo nodded for him to continue, simultaneously jotting down notes on this new information on a small notepad propped against his leg, which was once again crossed over the other. After some hesitation, N kept speaking. "Personality wise... Everyone called him crazy. He's always beg me to fight in our battles, and when I'd let him it'd be terrifying. I told everyone to be merciful as possible, and he'd be finding soldiers that had already been defeated and shooting them just to hear them scream apologies. He hates humans more than I do.. did." 

N stopped, letting Leo catch up in his notes. The general sighed when he placed his pen down on the desk. "So he's bloodthirsty?" the general asked. N shrugged meekly. "You could say that. He said constantly that humans were evil, that they should be the slaves, not us. He didnt like me because I wanted fairness, equality. He just wanted to destroy any human he could get his hands on and any faunus who didnt agree with him on that." Leo nodded, rubbing his eyes. "So we're going to have a handful, huh?" 

"Yeah..." Leo reread his notes a few times, N watching the cogs in his head turn as he processed the information before rising to his feet. "Okay. Thanks for the info. We'll figure out a way to work around this guy." N nodded but apparentally his emotions could be read from his expression because Leo was frowning even after the faunus had stood. "What's wrong?" 

"I just..." N glanced down to the floor, shaking his head. "I just think this is a huge mess." It was rare that he'd ever speak his emotions to anyone besides Ken or Hongbin, but recently he'd been talking to Leo more than either of them. "I know," the general replied, and N felt his tensed body relax as a large hand began to stroke the brightly dyed hair between his ears. He subconsciously nuzzled his head up into Leo's hand, the other male smiling at this unintended action.

"But it'll all work out. I'm planning on talking to the head of the army itself soon, maybe I can discuss getting a meeting with the council over faunus rights." N's eyes flickered with surprise and he glanced up at Leo questioningly. "You know the head of the army that well?" Leo chuckled, but there was some obvious uneasiness there. "I guess you could say that we're close." 

As Leo stroked through N's hair, he didnt even notice his hand slipping lower, beginning to graze against and cup the faunus cheek. The two realized what was happening at the same time and Leo jerked his hand away, and... did N seem disappointed? "S.. sorry," the general mumbled, feeling his face heat up and being relieved that he wasnt the only one. N's cheeks were flushed a pretty rose shade. "N.. no, it's okay. I do..." N caught himself before finishing. I dont mind. Please actually, do it again. Maybe get a little closer this time? He refused to seem weak or submissive like that, so he froze his tongue. Leo didnt push. "Let's go back," the general murmured, the awkwardness suddenly becoming apparent again. N avoided Leo's eyes as his leash was clicked on.   
\--------------------------------

"I swear someone's going to walk in," Hongbin muttered, though he didnt necessarily seem worried past his heavy breathing. Their lips were swollen from their actions seconds before. Hyuk was leaning over him on the table, panting as well, their faces only inches apart. "Don't worry, I locked the door." 

"And if someone's dying and needs your help?" The medic smiled at the tiger-faunus' words. "Then I'll open the door. Simple. Besides, there's something else that needs my help right now." A hand slipped down to Hongbin's jeans and the faunus groaned as it cupped his very prominent erection, squeezing softly. Hongbin's head fell back against the surface, the sheet of sterile paper over the table crinkling at his every move. 

"Stop teasing me," he gasped and Hyuk laughed softly, the laugh that somehow was simultaneously angelic and full of dark intention. The medic pulled his hand back before pulling Hongbin's torso so he was sitting again, pressing their lips together, mouths immediately molding again without any need for a warm up. "Then stop being so easy to tease," Hyuk gasped between breaks in their unity. 

Five minutes later they were sitting side by side on the table, both in a surreal state of afterglow. Hongbin wasnt sure when their innocent touching and kisses became more demanding and invading, but he definitely didnt mind it. His pants were still unbuttoned and Hyuk's hair was messy from Hongbin grabbing at it when the medic was sucking him off minutes before. It hadnt gotten past blowjobs, but Hongbin couldnt wait for more, only waiting for the medic to make the decision to take it a little further someday. 

He was glad no one else had found out about his and Hyuk's relationship; faunus and humans werent technically supposed to date. Sure there were master/pet relationships, kind of like the one that N and Leo were SUPPOSED to (and very much assumed by the soldiers to) have, but a relationship with no superiority? Very much looked down upon. 

"What's up with N anyway?" Hongbin asked randomly, but the details of the question were already known to the other. They talked a lot about the other four people that they were close to in the facility, about how they functioned with one another. The most common conversation was the very obvious romantic tension between the general and the previous rebellion leader. "Why wont he just tell Leo that he likes him." 

"You didnt tell me that you liked me." Hongbin scoffed and Hyuk laughed at the faunus' response, but let the other continue. "I didnt tell you until you kissed me, THEN I did. But Leo legit plays with N's hair when neither of them are paying attention enough to realize it and they're always staring at each other. Its not like he doesnt know Leo likes him." 

Hyuk nodded in agreement, laying back on the table to stare up at the ceiling, the bright fluorescent lights being so familiar that he didnt even squint at their nearby shine. "What I came up with is that N doesnt want to be seen as submissive. Think about it, how are cat faunus percieved in society right now?" Hongbin thought this over before nodding slowly. Hyuk continued, "If he were to start sucking up to Leo like they probably both want him to, he'd have to admit to himself and everyone around him that he isnt as hardcore and tough and self-reliant as he's been trying to make it seem. And with the soldiers and rebellion already calling him Leo's slut...."

"...it makes sense that he wouldn't want to follow the title's lead, even a bit," Hongbin finished with a sigh. "I see now. Still though... I wish N-hyung could just do what he wanted around Leo and I wish Leo didnt have to pretend to slave-drive him to keep him alive. They'd probably both be much happier if they didnt have these hard standards set up for them already..." Hyuk nodded softly, frowning at the ceilinf for a moment longer before sitting up. "Thats how the world runs though. Reputation and expectations. And violence. Now let's go back before people get suspicious as to why we've been in here for so long."   
\------------------------------  
Ken was booooorrreeeedddd. Ravi was busy all day and only had time to take him to eat or pee and Leo had gone to the gardens somewhere or whatever, meaning no one would be visiting N to entertain him either. He had been warned the day before that today would be boring, but he still felt like he was going insane. 

"N-hyuuunngg, entertain meeee," he whined loudly in a shrill voice, the other male rolling his eyes but not glancing up from the book he was nuzzled into. Now that he was in the cell rather than leading an army, he had much more time to read, something he appreciated greatly. But it was difficult to focus when his best friend was poking him in the cheek... Which was actually happening. 

"Stop touching my face," N scowled halfheartedly, brushing the shark-faunus' hand away and trying to find his spot again on the page he had been reading. "You don't care when Leo does it," Ken jabbed, but N was so used to this kind of teasing that it didnt even affect him anymore. He found that the best solution to being mocked was to not show a response. "Because Leo's hands are far cleaner than yours. Go draw or something." 

"But I've drawn everything I can think of!" Ken groaned dramatically, falling back onto N's legs through his blanket and staring up at the plain concrete ceiling with pained, overdramatic eyes. "I want to swiimmmm...." 

N was about to retaliate with a snappy comeback, but he suddenly sensed someone new's presence and glanced up to see a smiling man on the other side of the bars, two soldiers that looked bored themselves at either side of him. "Hello, Cha Hakyeon, I take it?" He flinched. Even though the man sounded kind, he still couldnt get used to other people using his real name. It felt vulnerable, reminded him that he was in the system he had avoided for most of his life. He stayed silent and stared at this man blankly. Ken understood that N wasnt too comfortable with strangers, so he spoke up instead. "Who are you?"

The man, who was wearing a similar outfit to Hyuk's (tucked in, white button-down, stethoscope around the neck, yada), seemed relieved that someone was willing to speak to him. "My name is Taeyang, I work in the medical branch? Sanghyuk, my supervisor, got distracted showing the other faunus... Hingbon?" 

"Hongbin," N corrected quietly, still attentive to the man's words. "Right, Hongbin. He got distracted showing Hongbin around and forgot that he wanted you to get a vaccine. There are a lot of bacteria that can get faunus badly ill, and you're the only one who hasnt gotten the vaccine." N shared a cautious glance with Ken, who shrugged halfheartedly. "He's not lying, I had to get the shot when I came in. It'll only take a few minutes." 

The cat faunus nodded meekly, slipping a blanket into his book so he wouldnt lose his place and stood. The man unlocked the door, and N started to walk out but a guard grabbed his arm roughly, making him wince. The man, Taeyang, glared at the guard, who relaxed his grip a bit, before smiling apologetically at N and holding up a leash similar to the one Leo had. "Sorry, regulations." 

Did it make sense that he only felt restricted and trapped when someone other than Leo leashed him and escorted him? No. But he still felt uneasy. Maybe it was the guards, who stared him down every time he did so much as adjust his collar, which felt unusually tight when it was being weight down by a leash that wasn't Leo's. It didnt matter. He just wanted to go back to his book. Maybe Ken would actually be asleep when he got back. That was probably as likely as a blind man safely driving. 

He was led through the doorway of a small room to his left before being asked to sit in a chair with very obvious cuffs on the armrests. Leo would always avoid these regulations, knowing that N wasnt going to flip shit or run, but this wasnt Leo and his wrists were being firmly fastened a little too roughly by guards who probably hated him like the rest of the soldiers did. "Sorry again for the regulations, we'll get this over with as quickly as possible." N nodded. At least Taeyang seemed nice, but sometimes people who seemed nice were just intimidated. He was beyond trusting the kindness of anyone he didnt closely know now, human or faunus. 

He watched a needle being cleaned and a syringe being filled with a clear liquid. He had never had a shot in his life, always being too poor for an actual doctor, but he had seen enough about them on the media to not be too worried. He'd had far worse pain than a needle prick, and it'd be almost instantly gone. The two guards were still on each side of him, holding down his forearms, the right arm angled palm-up for the shot. He didnt get why they were so cautious; His wrists were cuffed in, he wasnt going anywhere. It didnt make sense to him how these soldiers would mock him to his face then be scared of him. 

"Alright, Hakyeon, you'll just feel a small prick..." Taeyang muttered gently. There was the prick. He sat still as the liquid was dispensed into his bloodstream, trying to be obedient as possible to show that he wasnt some beast that could only be tamed by Leo like they all probably thought he was. The needle was slipped from his inner elbow and quickly covered with a cotton ball, Taeyang wrapping blue tape around to hold it in place. "Aaand.. done," the doctor smiled.

The guards unlocked N's cuffs and one took his leash again. N stood and immediately stumbled a little, no one catching him like Leo would but his feet functioning properly enough so that he didnt fall to the ground. "Are you okay? Dizzy? Its common if you're afraid of needles..."

"I'm not," N muttered. His voice sounded kind of distant, echoey. Taeyang looked confused. "Well, lets go back to the cell...." He took another step forward, and this time he was falling to the ground. "Hakyeon!" the doctor called, the guard holding his leash yanking it as if that would pull him back to his feet. The world was spinning, and the doctor had dropped to his knees beside him, checking his pulse. "I think he's having a panic attack," the doctor stated hurriedly. "Carry him, we need to get him to my office..." 

The other guard was lifting him carelessly like a ragdoll and he felt so limp, almost surreally half-conscious. He was trembling, his head ached, he felt nauseous... "I need you to relax, Hakyeon," the doctor said clearly but distantly. His chest was rising and falling quickly, his heart pounding. What was going on...? He was so tired, so so tired suddenly.... Rather than staying confused and uncomfortable, N allowed himself to drift into sleep as they hurried down the hall to the other side of the medical ward where Hyuk's office was.   
\-------------------------------  
Tick tock.

Leo was on his way to the gardens across the small town that was nearby to the army's base. Neon signs glowed, their light outclassed by the setting sun's. He needed to take a breather, and somehow weeks had passed since he visited the gardens. He had been finding comfort in N's presence, but he needed to put his reliance on N on hold for a bit, at least until tomorrow's fight was out of the way. The pre-battle anticipation was buzzling in his stomach. The fresh smell of the flowers usually tamed his nerves pretty well. 

Tick tock. 

The gate was unlocked, as it usually was before night fell. The gardens didnt have much to steal; it had perks having most of your merchandise planted into the ground. The young family, two siblings who's parents had passed the business down to them upon passing away, were sweet people who often would shove fresh produce into Leo's hands if he came early enough. They appreciated his visits, and sometimes he'd sit with them for home-grown herbal tea. Chanhyuk, the brother, would always find such an interest in the army, but Soohyun, the sister, refused to let him join. Leo wondered how the siblings were doing after a few weeks of not visiting.

Tick tock.

He knocked on the door to the cottage where they sold fertilizers and handmade pots, but no one answered. Upon closer inspection, the 'Welcome!' sign that hung from the other side of the glass door was flipped to say 'Sorry, closed!' Leo wondered where they were off to, but didnt think about it too hard, strolling into the gardens. The two had always welcomed people in, even when they werent there. The gardens were only closed when the gates were. It was a nice change to have such a welcoming place in such a small, somewhat rundown town. 

Tick tock. 

He passed white roses, bluebonnets, sunflowers that were as tall as he was. Leo considered picking a flower or two for N, picturing the bright smile on the warm male's face... before he mentally smacked himself. First, he couldnt buy the flowers if the owners werent there. And second, how stupid would it seem to go to a person who probably wanted nothing to do with him and give them flowers? He didnt know for sure that N's feelings were returned. For all he knew the faunus was faking being okay with his touches and soft speech in fear of being abused again if he didnt. The thought frustrated Leo even further. Didnt he come here to NOT think about N anyway?

Tick tock.

It was getting dark, the last of the sun's light falling behind the short buildings of the nearby shopping center. He needed to head back soon. He stayed for ten more minutes before heading to the gate, but Leo paused as he caught sight of a very specifically beautiful flower. It was an azalea, it's bright red color reminding him of another bright red color that he greatly appreciated. He decided to throw his pride to the side for now. 

'Please reserve this flower for me when you come back. -Jung Leo.' He scribbled this onto a page of his notepad and tore it out, placing it gently onto the soil at the flower's base, dusting some over the edges so the note wouldnt blow away. And with that he left. There was a strange scent in the air, familiar, but one that didnt make sense to be in the town. It was like smoke, but not the smoke that spurted from the tiny restaurants' chimneys... He heard a small click by his feet, felt the ground sink a bit at his next step....

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.... Boom.

He was unconscious before he even comprehended that his feet were no longer touching the ground. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for cliffhanger ♥


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may be triggering for heavy mention of violence.

The sky was slathered with brushstrokes of fuchsia and lavender, blending with the ombre darkness that was casted over the horizon. It was nice, sometimes, having the base set up in the country away from the big city. The residents of the small town nearby were either kind or too rude to care about, and of course the sunsets and star-littered night skies were beautiful without the traffic lights dimming their presentation.

Ravi didn’t like to admit that he enjoyed these things. Because Leo was so passive, even if he didn’t intend to be, Ravi had to be the one to stand up and be directly aggressive. Leo was a good general, strong and able to command his men well but…. Ravi sighed softly, remembering back to their fights. He’d let faunus live that would then continue to fight against them. He wasn’t suited for a war. When they’d found N in the river after the blast, Leo had wanted to put him in a cell, interrogate like any other criminal… but N wasn’t any other criminal, and Ravi was the one who had, in his vengeful rage, convinced Leo to do the terrible things he did. 

Because Ravi was still mad. Not like before; He didn’t want to hurt Hakyeon like before. But if it were to happen on its own…? Well… The faunus and the advising general seemed to have a mutual, silent agreement that they were NOT on good terms. And that was fine with him. There were other things though. Ken had grown on him quite a bit, which was surprising saying that Ken was a faunus. The shark boy was fun though, laughed and played like a child, something Ravi always wanted to be able to do but never had the support. He always had to be so strict, it was really nice to just let go and have fun. Even now, as they sat together staring out the floor-to-ceiling window in the hallway, Ravi felt at peace.

They were silent until randomly Ken spoke, his voice much softer than its normal boastful self. “You know, us three… We’ve been together for years.” Ravi grunted softly, showing that he was listening. Normally things like these made it seem like he didn’t care, not replying or anything. He was glad Ken didn’t see it that way. “Me and Hongbin lived in a small faunus-only village… We managed to hide from government regulation there. We’d work on the farm as kids, just screw around.” Ken was rambling a bit, but Ravi took interest in the story of how three faunus out of nowhere formed a rebellion so great that it had to be countered by the army itself. 

“One day though, when we were out screwing around in the lake, something stumbled out of the forest nearby. We freaked out. Did you know Hongbin used to be a crybaby? He was so scared he screamed.” Ken laughed and even Ravi couldn’t help but smirk. Hongbin? The brave and rude and violent Hongbin? The shark faunus shook his head slowly with a nostalgic, amused grin and continued. “Once we gathered our shit though, we realized that the thing that had come out of the woods was a boy around our age. He was really hurt, like there was blood everywhere. Again, Hongbin freaked out. I ran up to this kid right as he collapsed and tried to ask him about himself, but he was already unconscious.” Ravi blinked, not understanding where this was going. Was this a real story? 

Ken’s smile slowly faded, and did his eyes look sad as they reflected the past..? “We took him to the village chief’s house and the first thing he said when he saw this kid was ‘send him back.’ It was weird, our village chief was one of the kindest people we knew. It wasn’t like he was human, he had ears and a tail and all. He wouldn’t tell us why. Me and Hongbin got so mad, this kid was going to die like this! So we ended up taking him to Hongbin’s house, where he lived alone after his family was enslaved by humans. We took care of him, got him healthy enough to wake up. But what I remember best…” Ken trailed off. Ravi wondered if Ken was talking more to himself or to him, but he really wanted to hear the rest of this story now. “What was it?” Ravi asked softly, not wanting his curiosity to push Ken to where he was uncomfortable.

Ken stared down at his folded hands. “He looked so scared when he first opened his eyes. We had to hold him down and he was just screaming ‘No, I don’t want this, leave me alone!’ Those were the only things he’d say, just mumbling them in his sleep for days. We named him ‘N’ since he didn’t know his name and it was tattooed into his ankle.” Ravi froze. This was about N?! He figured he should’ve caught on, but he was so entranced by the story that he wasn’t paying attention to the hints. N had his name tattooed onto his ankle? And why would he have that since he was a child?

The village chief ended up finding him after hearing him screaming in the middle of the night. He was mad, I guess, but when he told us to send N back, Hongbin…” Ken chuckled softly. “Hongbin stood in front of the door, arms spread out, said he’d claw anyone’s eyes out if they tried to take N. Our chief seemed to realize how important this was to us, took us outside, and explained why he wanted N to leave.”

“Ravi, he was born into a sex house. He had a collar with no hatch or anything to take it off, we had to pry the damned thing off. He looked so dirty and thin and the N tattooed into his ankle was identification for what fucking station he was put in. He was probably like eight years old. Our village chief told us that he was a lost cause, that these whore houses were very possessive, that faunus… that faunus slaves were expensive and they’d just use his tracking chip to come and grab him again.” Ravi’s eyes were wide. What had N been through… even as a child? He’d never forgive him for what he did to his sister… but he definitely pitied him. 

“So that night we got him to give us permission to tear his tracking chip out. I felt bad, he was in so much pain, but once we got the damned thing out he looked so happy that he started crying, like not sad crying but… he was just so relieved. He stayed with us for years after… and when the government found our village and burned it down in the middle of the night, we were the only three that survived.”

What?! “They burned your village…?!” Ravi was shocked, unable to believe it but knowing that the shark faunus had never lied to him before. Ken slowly nodded, his eyelids heavy over his gaze as he let out a heavy sigh. “Hongbin’s house was surrounded by dirt rather than grass, so it didn’t reach us. We woke up to a lot of screaming and smoke, walked outside and…. Well… There it was. Fire. Everywhere. And there were men in these white full-body suits with flamethrowers just strolling through the rubble. We ran before they saw us, and that night we decided we were going to fight the government, that this wasn’t right that everyone had to die and suffer just because we didn’t wear collars or report that we existed. If you ever wanted to know why we’d do something as stupid as fight the entire country’s army, that’s why.”

Ravi was shocked and Ken fell into silence, slowly glancing back up at the window that now revealed a darkened sky… A lot more time had passed than they realized. Ravi tried to process this information. The government, from their perspective, was an honest group that did good for everyone of every race. Humans were just… better. Faunus were given food, faunus were given places to sleep, it wasn’t like they were killed. But they were born to serve, and serve they would. That was the perspective anyway…. But regulations said that unregistered faunus were to be taken in, registered, then put on probation or something and given to a master or a group home. Not… not killed like that… Even as a general, were there things happening as corrupt as this that he didn’t see..?

“It’s getting late. I’m gonna go to sleep. Can you take me back?” Ken asked softly, seeming exhausted just from remembering the past. Ravi didn’t blame him. “Sure,” he replied gently. He made sure to leave a slice of chocolate cake on the table in the cell for Ken when he woke up. He deserved it for going through so much… Next to the chocolate were also two strawberry and vanilla cake slices… Because even if he didn’t want to admit it, N and Hongbin had been through hell too. It was the least he could do to leave them something, and even if he wanted to hate them, he couldn’t anymore.   
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whatever he was laying on was freezing and stone hard. A floor? He was sure it was a floor, it was too rough to be a table or something. The room was chilly and the air was thick, the smell of dirt wafting every time he inhaled. Where was this? How did he get here? 

He remembered an explosion, the confusion he had before the blast had sent him flying. Oh… now he felt it… His leg was throbbing. He was sure he was bruised all over, but at least he wasn’t dead.

Or was he? He couldn’t tell. Leo tried to open his eyes… Why weren’t they working? He didn’t realize until he caught himself blinking that they were open, he just couldn’t see a thing. Darkness wasn’t usually this consistent… A blindfold maybe? He couldn’t tell. He caught onto something else pretty rapidly. He couldn’t move. It wasn’t like he was restrained, he didn’t feel any rope. It was more like his muscles refused to cooperate, like he didn’t have any control over his body. It was disorienting. 

It was cold. It was silent. And despite knowing he was alive, his mind was still questioning.

It was dark.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Yeeeeooonniieeee~” 

Shut up, Ken…

“Yeonieeeee.”

Just a little longer…

“Kittyboy Cha Cha~”

I feel... so tired...

His eyes drifted open and the confusion set in immediately. This ceiling was not the ceiling to the cell, that voice was not Ken’s voice. But why not? Hongbin didn’t ever tease him awake… and he wasn’t allowed to sleep outside of the cell. 

He didn’t even consider that he had been captured until his hair was grabbed suddenly and roughly, jerking his head back. He winced, growling a little in surprise and pain before his eyes flickered back open… and widened.

“Good morning, sunshine. It took you a while. You must be getting pretty pampered to need so much sleep.” GDragon’s grin was bold and boisterous. This had to be a nightmare. How would he have even been caught? The last thing he remembered was sitting with Ken in the cell… Was Ken okay?! 

“Wh… how… wha..” Gdragon sighed softly, releasing his hair. N found his head slumping down, heavy as a rock. Why did everything feel so dreary…? “You’re kind of oblivious, aren’t you? Same old N. Don’t worry, you’ll get it soon. Won’t he?!” The last part was yelled, and N’s eyes widened as he heard the sudden loud cheering from a huge crowd. He didn’t realize that he was in a large cage until the black sheet was torn off of it, spotlights directed on him blaring down so brightly that he couldn’t see for a few seconds. Once his eyes adjusted, he wished he had just stayed unconscious.

A crowd of an estimated thousand faunus was swelling around the stage that he was elevated on, the closet-sized cage centered directly in the middle. There were familiar faces, but there were also plenty faces that he didn’t recognize at all. How had the army grown so much so fast…?! His shock seemed to glow through his eyes because Gdragon chuckled. N didn’t realize until just now that the other was wearing a headset… Where did they get this technology..? Nothing was making sense... Was this a nightmare? It had to be.

He tried to get up but he couldn’t, arms restrained not simply with tied wrists but both forearms roped to each other behind his back, crossed so he couldn’t hope to move them without dislocating his shoulders. He was on his knees but couldn’t rise from this position; He assumed that his crossed arms were tied loosely to his ankles so he wouldn’t be able to get out of a kneeling position. It was so disorienting, this nightmare, this had to be a nightmare… He wanted to call it that, but he knew somewhere in the back of his mind that this was completely, terribly real. 

“Why can’t you just leave me alone..?! You have the damned rebellion now, so why..?!” N’s argument was halted when he was slapped hard enough to make his vision blur again, head shooting to the side before lulling down. He was still dizzy from before, and the rush of motion and stinging of his cheek definitely had not helped. 

“We punish traitors, and if you so stupidly forgot, you dodged your previous punishment.” N flinched as the crowd cheered, refusing to look up at them again, focusing on the table he was placed on like a pedestal. Weren’t these once his friends…? Didnt he once eat with these people and fight with these people…? The betrayal was sickening; he wondered how loud they’d cheer if he vomited right there. 

“But what we’ve got today is even better. A double party! Two punishments in one go for two filthy people!” Two…? Who else…? N’s thoughts immediately jumped to Ken, who had been the only other one present when he was taken by that fucking lying ‘doctor.’ No, no no no, not Ken, Ken was too good of a person, Ken only did this because of him…!

Gdragon chuckled at his hostage’s obvious discomfort before raising his hand up into the air, making a summoning gesture. “Bring him in!”

From behind the stage, a struggling figure was escorted up by four faunus who obviously weren’t having much trouble keeping him still. He had a bag of black cloth over his head but N knew immediately who it was, felt himself immediately breaking down.

Even before the facial cover was torn off, the broad shoulders and long legs told him that this wasn’t Ken at all….

This was Leo.

The bag was pulled from the general’s head, the other male’s muffled shouts of anger blocked by a gag. The crowd roared at the sight of their enemy leader right there. N felt like his chest was going to implode. His wide, terrified eyes locked with Leo’s when the other glanced over to glare at GD… and they both stopped struggling for a second in realization of what horrible things were about to happen to the other, the fear for themselves fading to nothing. N’s voice trembled.

“Don’t do this, please don’t do this.” He tried to sound calm, reasonable, but GD wasn’t having it. The other began to scratched behind N’s ears softly, as if it would be comforting in this situation, mocking him. “Aww, look at this. You were all right! Gdragon turned towards the crowd, smirking brightly. “Look at your previous leader resorting to begging for this asshole who tore our freedom to shreds! And you all relied on him at one point! Don’t you feel betrayed?!” 

N focused on Leo, watched with a racing heart and held-back tears as the other struggled and jerked, unable to get away or fight with his wrists tied, which was more than how N was restrained but still enough. He didn’t listen to the crowd, he didn’t want to. All he could focus on were the one thought rushing through his head so fast it was almost suffocating.

‘If Leo didnt save me this wouldnt be happening to him.’ 

“And then our lovely general, who you all know without introduction. Can we give our cast for this show a big round of applause?” Everything felt hopeless. With this many eyes on them how could they even think of escaping? Everyone was clapping, but it was obvious they were waiting for something more exciting… What was going to happen to them…? Could this have been avoided…?

“But see, I don’t necessarily want to kill both of them.” Kill… both…? “You see, Leo’s a racist murderer, but at least he’s an honorable one. And honorable assholes deserve an honorable death, right?” They were going to kill Leo… They were going to kill him…!

N started to struggle, to fight, to do anything in any mild hope that he could stop this somehow but he couldnt move an inch with how he was bound, GD only laughing at his attempt. 

“Now how should we do this?” GD pondered, the teal scales on his cheeks glistening in the setting sun’s light as he thought. "Lets see... hmm... We could shove him into a water tank and watch him struggle until his lungs give out, wr could hook him up to a car battery and see how much he jitters. Ah! We could slit his throat and let him choke to death on his own blood, we could rip off his arms and let him die of shock...."

N's eyes were wide with horror, the smaller male trembling slightly as the rebellion leader rambled as if he were deciding what to eat for dinner the next day. "Huh... You know, I'm nice so I'll let you choose, Yeonie." N simply stared up at him, gritting his teeth and trying to act as if he wasnt afraid for the general but not doing a good job. 

"What? No ideas? None of those sounded appealing? You're so hard to please. Jeez, cats right?" There was a small rumble of laughter through the crowd, but the noise sounded foreign and even demonic to his panicked mind. 

"More ideas.... We could crush his windpipe... Nah, that wouldnt be as fun. We could cut a hole in his stomach and see how many organs we can pull out before he dies. Oh! I heard of this old thing where you make someone drink molten iron...."

N was shaking so hard it could be seen from the crowd, and Leo's face was pale as he slowly stilled, realizing that he wasnt doing anything but exhausting himself with his struggles. They locked eyes once more, and their silent conversation was the more heartfelt one they'd ever had. 

'Get out, just escape, leave me here.'

'I cant escape, Leo, I'm tied too tight, but you....'

'I cant either, there are too many guards...'

'I'm scared.'

'I... me too but... It'll be okay...'

"....We could put him in a wood chipper, shred him to bits like confetti. Do you like confetti, kitty? I could cut off his dick and choke him with it, do you know how funny that would be? Nah, the moms out there would be pissed.... Well, we can always keep it simple and burn him. Melt his flesh, the yada."

And N froze. His entire body went tense, his pupils dilated. Fire... A picture formed in his head, a memory. The overwhelming, ash-thickened air that blocked his lungs. The flames licking at their home, their village, their friends and caretakers... Burning wood, burning flesh, everything burning, amplified by the screams of a slow, excruciatingly painful death. 

GD noticed this suddenly horrified reaction... He didnt ignore it. "Burning it is, then," the man grinned, before waving his hand. More faunus came up from behind the stage, dragging a pile of scrap wood and paper in a wheelbarrow.... It seemed he had already planned out each 'ending' he thought up. "N... no... No!!!" N fought his restraints, he did everything. Maybe if he pulled hard enough he could get out, even if it hurt, even when he heard his wrist pop unnaturally from the strange, he needed to save Leo, he had to save Leo!! 

The pile was dropped on the opposite side of the stage from the cage N and GD were in, Leo grabbed and dragged towards it. The men pulled out lighters, flames flickering violently in excitement, ready to inflict pain, ready to kill. N was screaming, screaming that he'd go, to kill him, to just kill him and do anything to Leo just dont let him die in such a terrible way, but he was ignored completely. 

Leo was fighting again and managed to headbutt a guard but it was useless... Bull, Horse, and Buffalo faunus were too strong, with too rough skin to even feel more than a small thump from a human's attack. They lifted the general into the air, his muffled yells meaning nothing to them as they held him down into the pile. Someone dumped a liquid onto Leo's head, soaking him down... N's sensitive nose picked up quickly. It smelled like motor oil... 

N was sobbing now, begging, he'd do anything, he'd do anything, why couldnt he do anything?!?! Him and Leo met eyes one more time, and the fear was radiating off of the taller male though he didnt seem to show it. Leo looked deeply at him, at the cat faunus' tear drenched eyes, and slowly mouthed words that N wished he hadnt. 

'This isnt your fault.'

The lights were dropped, the fire taking a few test licks before consuming the tall pile in a flash. The smell of ash, the sight of the flames... and the muffled screaming before it suddenly slowed and stopped, falling to silence... As the pile burned, he fell apart completely. As Leo was taken before his eyes in the same way that their village had been. 

And those last words were a lie.


	12. Chapter 12

"Take him away now." The guard looked surprised. After they had doused the fire, leaving a large, windstrewn pile of ash in it's wake, wasn't it the other traitor's turn? But GD didnt look like he felt like playing around, almost seeming bored, as if ready to move on, as if killing the enemy leader was nowhere near enough. It confused him.

"But sir, dont we need to kill him too...? He betrayed us..." GD hushed him by holding up a finger, then pointed that finger towards the form still locked in the cage. "Don't you see? We've already killed him. Now take him to Seungri. He'll know what to do with him. Go... Go!" At his boss's startling shout, the ram faunus quickly nodded and hurried to the cage, hooking a chain to the sturdy collar that was still attached to N's neck. He wanted to be more forceful like he was supposed to, but for some reason he couldnt. He expected to be happy to see this man suffer... not... guilty...?

Because there was no soul in this body. N's cheeks glistened with tears that still poured, but he wasnt crying, no sobs escaping his lips. In fact, it was hard to tell if he was breathing at all unless looking closely at his chest, searching for the microscopic and unstable rise and fall. Because his eyes were dull and empty as a dead person's, because his body was weak and malleable and when the leash was tugged he moved limply along with it like a toy on a string. Because he showed no reaction to his surroundings despite being mocked and taunted, because when GD rustled his hair on the way out he didnt seem to even notice, because he was lost in the moment that had just happened....

Because of all of this, the guard knew that even if they hadnt killed him physically, N was completely, unreversably dead. Perhaps, he thought, that was even worse than the former.

The crowd booed as the hostage was led off the stage, N's eyes never leaving the floor, not to glare at GD or look at the pile of ashes. He didnt speak or fight as he was pulled down a hallway, he didnt struggle or begin to cry again as he was taken to a garage and his chain was handed off to a fine looking man, the man Seungri who was famous enough in the underground for even the rebellion to be associated with him despite what his carreer supplied.

The guard watched as the man sweet talked the doll in his grasps, leading him to a much smaller cage and pushing him in. And even as he was thrown into the back of a truck with a handful of other cages, he didnt even ask what was happening.

The guard once enjoyed the war, the excitement it gave him, the rush of adrenaline in defeating your enemies and fighting for a cause. The guard now decided that he would never feel that same bloodthirsty joy again without remembering the face of the broken spirit before him.   
\-------------------------------------

The sudden light was blinding and overwhelming, the girl shuffling to turn away from it as a groan escaped her lips. Were they at their destination...? The first time the truck had stopped, she was so filled with anxiety that she had cried until some asshole in the cage nextdoor warned her politely that it was annoying... by saying something like, 'shut the fuck up or so help me I'll rip out your throat.' The next three times she held in her voice, shivering and curling into the corner of her small, 5' by 5' entrapment. Now, she was too emotionally exhausted to feel anything but the want to sleep or eat.

Hani had thought today would be a normal day. A good day as any other, at least, as good as a day could be when you were a 'regestered, company-owned pet' on the run. She had escaped the whorehouse with Solji two months prior when they found out they were being transferred to a bigger one downtown in the capital. The good thing about being in a somewhat small town was that most people were married and forbid their spouses to stress relief with an animal. Less sex with nasty, abusive customers, happier Hani. But downtown was busy. And when you're not being paid to do something you hate, you want as little business as possible. 

But when your diamonds run away, you chase them, and unfortunately they had been brutally unprepared for when the mercenaries showed up to their camp at five that morning. Solji had managed to escape, which they had swore to each other they'd do if the other got caught. If anything she was glad it was herself who was to suffer instead of her best friend. Maybe somehow, Solji could find a future somewhere. She was a panther faunus after all... But dog breeds like Hani didnt have much chance even after escaping. What work could a pomeranian faunus do?

There were thumps of footsteps and the screeching of metal as another cage was dragged up the ramp into the back of the truck. She only heard the sound of one... Usually at each stop around two or three faunus were loaded on. 

Even more surprising though was the man that walked in after the cage was stationed on the opposite side of Hani's from the asshole who told her to shut up. She glanced up and swallowed nervously.

Seungri. The best title for Seungri was a pimp. He owned five night clubs and four sex houses along with two bars and a restaurant. He was richer than quite possibly the president himself and flaunted it well with stylish clothes, blingy cars, gigantic houses, and a tight hand on the underground and the government alike. It was terrifying to consider why this man would be in the car right now. It meant he was planning on buying... and someone owned by Seungri had no hope of ever getting out.

They'd first burn his symbol onto your skin so no one who saw it would even consider going near you... meaning no one would help you if you escaped in fear of what Seungri's men could do to them. They'd brand you, not tattoo you like most places, because tattoos could be removed but deep rooted scars...? It wasnt happening. 

He'd distribute you to one of his locations, from a small bar to his largest business which was a huge club in the downtown capital attached to a restaurant with various services available, all dirty work done by enslaved faunus. 

And the government didnt touch him, meaning that any of the stupid, barely helpful faunus rights that were already in effect? Gone. They could kill you, torture you, completely mutilate you... and the police wouldnt even consider his involvement. He was truly a terrifying man.

He scanned through the cages, Hani trying to hide in the shadows of hers but it not being too effective with the bright sunlight casting in. He stepped casually down the rows, probably around twenty cages available to examine, before he gave a soft 'hm' of thought and paced back. 

He stopped at the cage three down from her left. "Give me information on this one." The mercenary who had captured them shuffled through his papers of quickly jotten notes. "A rabbit faunus, regestered under the name 'Momo.' Her owner died three years ago in a car crash that she wasnt involved in. According to friends of the deceased owner she can be sassy but is smart and knows how to listen to orders." Seungri nodded. "Alright. I'll take it." Then he continued down the row. 

Hani wanted to throw up. The rumors were true, it was like he was buying from a gallery. He turned to a cage on the other wall. "This one?" The girl inside whimpered a little, curling up into herself. Hani wished she could project comfort... The girl only seemed around fourteen years old. The man gave her details before Seungri slowly shook his head. "Inexperience is sometimes a kink, but never having a master before makes them hard to train. Lets move on." And the girl began to fully sob, began to even beg Seungri to take her until her cage was dragged out of the truck into the sunlit garage and out of sight. 

The worst thing about this wasnt the fact that you were trapped forever or that you had to do terrible things. The worst thing was that if you didnt qualify for being sold, you were considered worthless, a defective product. So as much as you would want to beg to be left alone, you'd have to do otherwise. Defective products were trashed.

Hani held back tears and tried not to think of the poor girl as the selection continued. "And her? He was to her now..." 

"Hani. Pomeranian dog faunus. Worked at a club in a small town for a while and got great reviews." She held her breath... 

"I'll take her. Now..." 

Hani sighed in both fear and relief. She wasnt going to die... but this wasnt much better...

Seungri passed her up to crouch beside the cage that had just been pulled in. He smiled, showing a thumbs up to the man writing down his purchases. "Should I give you his rundown first, sir?" Seungri shook his head. "No need. I know all about this one. I'm taking him as a favor." 

Who could possibly be so important or influential that the richest buyer in the trade would take them without a second thought? Her question was answered the second she glanced over and her eyes locked onto rose red hair, chocolate colored ears, and caramel skin. 

Was that the leader of the rebellion?!

While she hadnt gotten involved in the fight herself, caring too much for her and Solji's lives, everyone had heard of N. He was strong, he was determined and brave but he was also caring and merciful. She had seen a leak of his real face before she had escaped, faunus everywhere discussing how this powerful leader ended up being a catboy. Hani had been inspired that a 'weak' genre of the race like herself had done something so cool, but she knew nothing else about him... 

But was this really N? Because while the appearance fit spot on, the personality was completely different. He looked ill... no honestly he looked like something had sucked his soul out of his body. Was he drugged? He DID seem to have a specialty, top-quality government collar, the one with the tranquilizer. And why did the mercenaries sell him to Seungri when he was a government target and they couldve gotten more from selling him to the army? What had happened to him to make him lose his fight...?

Seungri picked out two more faunus while she stared at N, wondering why he was here and how the so-called unbreakable faunus had been broken. Her gaze was only torn away as the door slam shut, the entire room flooding with darkness once more. Her eyes quickly adjusted; night vision was a nice thing to have. The truck drove for four more hours, hours of faunus crying and faunus sleeping and faunus whispering to others. She didnt want to be alone here, and the only one that was remotely familiar was the male sitting almost frozen beside her. So she did what she could, her trembling voice trying to sound as kind as possible. 

"Hi, my name is Hani."

Silence. He blinked, but he did that every eight seconds or so so that may not have been a reaction. "I... You inspire me a lot... I mean Im not a fan per se but I thought you were really brave..." She noted his bottom lip receed into his mouth slightly, barely could see the indents of his canines pressing into it through the shadows her eyes were now fully adjusted to. She didnt know what to do, and was wondering why her heart, something she followed diligently, was so intent on talking to him. She then considered the option that maybe he needed more comfort than she did.

"I... want to tell you that its okay. I know nothing really about you or what happened to you or... or why you're sad... I mean anyone would be sad that they got captured but..." She was really bad at this... But she was set on helping... somehow... there had to be a way to at least help a little, there always was. 

So she told him her story. How her and Solji ran away and then fun they had. How they'd sleep under the stars at night when they never were allowed outside before and how they'd dream up plans of becoming famous singers in some country that didnt allow faunus discrimination. "Solji got away though... And even now, even if I'll be lonely, I'm so glad that she doesnt have to suffer. Even if she's not with me... I... I find comfort that she's not going to be in pain."

Hani stopped speaking when she caught sight of a tear that slipped down N's cheek like a shooting star... then another. "I.. I'm so sorry! Did I upset you or remind you of anything or...?" And N moved for the first time in hours, his hands trembling as they went up to hold onto his collar. At first she figured he wanted it off, but then Hani realized he was holding it as if it were sentimental, not trying to tug at it... And she really was confused now. "I... I dont know what happened... or who you must have lost... But they're going to be okay. I'm sure they're safe and comfortable and maybe even looking for you now. A.. and I'm sure they're worried about you but that's okay, its okay to worry, and you'll see them again." 

At these words N began to fully cry, crossing his arms over his knees and hiding his face into them, muffling his mouth with his sleeve and sob. Hani was sure she should feel guilty for making him cry... but somehow she could tell that he needed this, to just let it out. She reached her hand cautiously through the bars and stroked his back with empathy. And suddenly she wasnt afraid anymore.

As the four hours ticked along, at some point N had cried himself to sleep, but she didnt stop stroking his back, even after the door slammed open once more and one by one the cages across from them were being dragged out. She wasnt terrified anymore, even feeling a spurt of bravery and purpose in her chest. And for some reason, she figured that her and N would be friends... that their lives werent going to end here. They wouldnt be here forever, whatever terrible place 'here' was. Her heart told her so, and through everything, she always trusted her heart.  
\---------------------------------------

Why didnt it hurt that bad...? Was it a nightmare? Why didnt it hurt like it should have...?

When fire engulfed his skin to the agonizing combination of a violently cheering crowd and Hakyeon's pleading screams. When he felt the air around him get sucked up by the flame and he couldnt keep shouting any longer without gagging. It hurt, it hurt badly, he cried and writhed, but it should have been so much worse... Shouldnt it have..? Maybe he had died quickly from suffocation before the flames reached his bones or major organs. 

He felt numb, a stinging across his entire body, especially on his back. He must be touching something there. He tried to order his mind to recalibrate, to analyze what he must be touching. Hard, no necessarily obvious change in temperature from the chilly room, so probably not steel... Wood? Wood sounded right. And was he sitting up or laying down? That, unfortunately, he couldnt tell for the life of him. 

It was dark, he was probably blindfolded, as he quickly went to assuming that he was alive; heaven or hell would surely, either way, be much flashier than this. He couldnt move his body and he could still feel the gag against his tongue, making his jaw ache when he tried to test his ability to open or close his mouth. 

A noise to his left... no, right.. no... How was he so disoriented? Click, click... Footsteps. He mentally praised himself for actually catching on to something. His brain had been foggy since he was at the gardens. 

"Jung Taekwoon." Gdragon. There was no way for him to respond to his captor, mouth and eyes thoroughly  covered and his body seeming to be held down by multiple restraints. He felt cuffs on his ankles, holding his feet to the legs of the chair. He felt cuffs on his wrist around the back. A cuff on his neck holding his head from slouching, a cuff around his stomach and calves keeping him completely, one hundred percent stationary. 

"Surprise~ It was hilarious how terrified you are. I always knew you'd get puppyeyes when you got really scared, but it took a lot to actually get to see it. Good thing I took a picture before they lit the torch." 

'How am I not dead?' 'Where am I?' 'Am I really not dead or are you just a monster sent to torture me forever?' 'Where is Hakyeon?' He settled on that question. Where was Hakyeon?

There was a snipping sound behind his head and the blindfold slipped off, thick cloth floating to his lap before being grabbed by some guard and pocketed. There were twelve guards in the room, two at the door, two beside GD, four beside himself, and six circling around the rather large space. He had to adjust his eyes to the light, but once he did he wished he didnt feel so humiliated. 

GD was smirking and Leo couldnt even speak because of the fucking sphere stuffed in between his teeth. Furthermore, where was Hakyeon being kept? What was going on?!

"You probably have a few question, so I'll explain. You'll have to let me finish though, so no interrupting.... oh wait. Nevermind." The man smirked and Leo wished he could break his neck for mocking him after everything that had already happened. 

"We faked your death. Its amazing how fast forty pounds of sand puts out fire and how many people still fall for trapdoors. Even your own pet fell for it." Leo growled from behind the gag as GD continued. "But you're too valuable to kill and the minions wouldnt stand for you staying alive, so here we go. Win win situation. You dont die, and I get what I need from you." 

Suddenly the gag was being unclipped from the back, and as it was yanked out of his mouth, Leo coughed, stretching his jaw a little as it felt strangely loose after being in the same position for so long. He went to speak but a guard's large, dirt-crusted hand smacked against his mouth. He tried to bite but the skin was too hard; some rough-skinned faunus. Fuck this situation.

GD didnt have his usual smirk anymore, in fact he now seemed very mature and down to business. "Now, I know damned well that you're not the one who can call off this big issue. Your army is a pain in the ass to deal with, and every time I lose a man or something everyone always whines. Its annoying. So tell me who to 'consult' to get this damned army out of my hair and you might find that your death is a little more comfortable than the fire probably was. 

"Where's Hakyeon," Leo growled and GD rolled his eyes. "I'm not telling till you give me the info. And dont pull that 'I'll give you info if you tell me' thing because I'll just make a tally of every time you say that bitch's name with a knife into your back. I'm NOT in the best mood after working an extremely boring business deal so DONT test me." 

Normally Leo would be focused on his training. He was taught what to do in this situation. Keep emotions out of it, die and suffer for your country. But to be completely honest, when deciding between Hakyeon and the man who's name he had to give out, he'd choose Hakyeon in a heartbeat. And if he had to die, he'd rather die knowing what had happened to the person he now fully accepted than he loved. 

"I dont even know his real name," Leo started, gritting his teeth a little at the fact that he was submitting to GD, but he would do absolutely anything for Hakyeon's possible safety. "He goes by his surname and a made up title...." 

"Get on with it," GD grumbled, crossing his arms loosely. Leo glared the man down before muttering out the crucial part, the name of the person he honestly hoped would die to GD's hand. "Jung Canis, head of the entire army, my supervisor." 

GD looked surprised before slowly, very slowly, his dark smile faded back. "This is interesting... You sold out your father for a faunus? What a terrible son." But Leo felt no caring emotion towards that man, dully replying, "I gave you information, now where's Hakyeon?" 

"Beg me." 

"What?" GD seemed bored again. "You heard me, beg. Ive decided, when I reform the world, flip the scenarios, you, Leo, are going to be my pet." He wondered if Hakyeon felt the same sickening, foreboding discomfort when that word was used in his reference that Leo suddenly felt. "So we're gonna do some practice. Right now I'm two phonecalls away from bringing you kittyboy's heart ripped out of his chest for your next meal. Now beg me for what you want like a good boy. I know Yeonie taught you how." 

Leo was furious, Leo was disgusted... and Leo had no choice. He gritted his teeth, bowed his head, and squeezed his eyes shut. "Please, master GD, please tell me where Hakyeon is." He legitimately gagged a little after calling the man before him, or anyone for that matter, by that sultry title. But apparentally he did well enough because the chameleon faunus laughed, rustled his hair harshly, and replied in a playful tone. "Of course, my pet. Right now your beloved kitty cat is on his way to finally do something useful with his life." 

Leo blinked before glaring at how subtle the answer was, making sure his passive-aggressive tone was very well translated into his tone as he replied, "And just what is that, master?" GD sighed, shaking his head. "You really must be sheltered, but for you, pet, I'll explain. Clubs happen to be very popular places in Crepescule, well known for their tasty food and even tastier services. Still need more of an explanation?"

At Leo's silence, he finished. "Here's what you'll probably care about. You're never going to see Cha Hakyeon again. I dont take my pets to whore houses, and I dont let my pets associate with whores. Oh, also? He's super sure he watched you die and disintegrate in that fire, unable to do anything to save you. When we sent him out he was so depressed he didnt even struggle. He'll probably get on the drugs passed around there to ease his poor aching heart and never have another lucid thought for the rest of his pleasure-filled life." With that he beamed at the shocked general and turned, walking out of the room with a broad grin, the guards having to tranquilize the man that was screaming that he'd rip GD's head off his shoulders for what he did. Love was such a fun thing to toy with, and now that Hakyeon was out of the way, he had his next plan of action. It was time to find Jung Canis. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long, also sorry that this chapter is sad

The air around her was cold and dry as they were all thrown out of their cages and forced to walk in a line through the backdoors of the huge building that was probably the night club. The inside was… if any word could describe it, it would be ‘dirty.’ The wallpaper was peeling in multiple different places, and various doors lined up the wall on the left, while the wall on the right only had one huge double-doored entrance to what she assumed was the actual club. She’d expected something more classy, but should’ve known that the space for faunus would be filthy like this.

 

Hani followed behind N, who was in front of her in the line, focusing on his back as comfort in a reminder that she actually knew someone here. N… N was strong… Maybe N could get them out someday soon. She kept that kind of hope as they were led to the row of small, cracked doors.

 

The man leading them was a buff human who looked like he was ready to strangle anyone who talked back to him. She was glad that the five faunus there seemed to have brains… She didn’t want to see anyone get hurt. “These are where you live. Blue doors are bathrooms, green doors are bedrooms, the red one down the hall is forbidden unless you’re brought into it by a human.” The man was blunt and speaking fast, so she was trying to soak up all of the necessary information before it passed. “You’ll be marked then your job will be decided by Seungri while he’s here. That’s it.” ...And just like that he walked off, scanning a card on the double doors and pacing through it, allowing them to swing shut and automatically lock behind him, leaving them alone in the room.

 

Once the small group of new faunus realized they could move, they all shuffled to face each other, still dazed over the situation. There was a young girl, Momo, and young man, Jungkook, and another boy that was unfamiliar to Hani. And then there was N… and he seemed to be immediately recognized by the others. “A… aren’t you N..? Like from the rebellion?” Momo asked carefully, her blonde ponytail swishing a little as she bowed her head as if he were too high ranked for her. “What are you doing here..? Are you faking being caught to get us out?” She was too innocent… but the others seemed to believe it for a moment before they realized that N wasn’t answering, that N didn’t look determined or smile like he was described to do often or seem very much like the N they had heard of in rumors at all. Hani found herself slowly answering in place of his silence. “He… he lost someone important to him, I think. I don’t… think he’s here on purpose.” The girl’s eyes went wide before tears began to pool in the corners of them, threatening to spill out. Jungkook pulled her into a gentle hug despite the two probably being complete strangers. It was strange how a situation like this united people so fast.

 

“They caught N, too…” the person who Hani didn’t recognize slowly muttered. “Out of any faunus on earth… Wasn’t he the last hope?”

“He can HEAR you, you know, and I doubt he appreciates you rambling on about how much he failed, not like it’s a lie.” They all spun around to face the back corner, where a stranger was leaning against the wall. She was wearing a tight white crop top over her defined chest, black shorts that looked more like underwear shaping her hips. Everything else, her arms, shoulders, legs, were all exposed, but she didn’t seem any form of flustered. Atop her head were two orangish fox ears, and a puffy tail swayed behind her. “Who are you?” Jungkook asked, careful to mind his tone. She wasn’t with them when they were shuffled in, which meant she had been here longer than them and probably knew her way around… She could probably help them know the ins and outs of this place if she felt like it.

“I’m Hyuna, but the clients call me Lilac, so if they ask send them my way.” Momo tensed a little in fear of the word ‘clients’... They all knew what that could mean. “Your names? Temporary names anyway, they’ll give you new ones once you’re assigned your tasks.”

“My name’s Hani.” She spoke when no one else seemed like they were going to first. “Jungkook,” the young male replied cautiously. “Momo,” the similarly young girl said almost so quietly she couldn’t be heard. She looked really scared… Hani glanced at the unfamiliar male out of the corner of her eye, seeing him grow a bit uneasy at saying his name, but going ahead and letting it out. “Suga.” Suga… It suited him. Hyuna smiled as she turned to the last person, waltzing over herself. “Don’t worry, I won’t make you speak. I’m not sure if you’re even capable anymore, you lovesick clutz.” Confusion sprung up on the four faces around N, but the taller male didn’t seem to react, still staring blankly at the floor. “You’ve truly been broken, haven’t you? You were so strong and then you made it so easily by going and falling in love…” Hyuna reached up and stroked his cheek, patting it affectionately. “Love is the opposite of strength, sweetheart. Though I’m pretty sure you’ve learned that now.” Hyuna then backed up before beckoning the small group with her hand, turning and walking towards one of the green doored rooms. They followed cautiously, not really having anywhere else to go.

 

Inside the room was rather large, sporting six bunk beds against the wall, seven of the bunks already taken by figures cuddled up in piles of paper thin blankets. In the center was a small square of couches that had probably been taken out of the dump, but once Hyuna plopped down on one, the others scattered around to the other couches and did the same. “So you’re all new, obviously, and you probably don’t know what’s going on. I’ve been here for three years, so I could say that I’m experienced enough to give you a rundown.” She shifted so that she was laying sideways on the couch, her black combat boots pressing into the armrest on the other side as her shoulders rested against the armrest behind her. “Firstly, the marking is going to hurt like shit. I considered just letting it happen so the shock factor makes the pain a little duller, but you should know. They brand you, like, take a piece of metal shaped like a lotus flower and press it on your skin somewhere. Where they put it depends, again, on what tasks they give you. Moving on to that…”

“You’re gonna be given at least one task. Whether that’s bartending, rental, cleaning, whatever, you’ll have something to do and you’ll be expected to do it and do it well. The others you’re with should teach you, but if they don’t I’ll do it. I’ve done pretty much every job here already.” Hani was grateful for the help, but didn’t understand why Hyuna was being so nice to them. Maybe she felt bad..? Maybe she sympathized with how they felt being thrown in here? Either way, it was kind of her to explain all of this. “I can already pretty much guess what they’re going to assign you all to, though. I will if you want, so that you’re ready.”

 

There was a silence as she waited for a response. Jungkook, Hani, and Momo all shared nervous glances, N just nodded faintly, barely seeming to be paying attention, and Suga gave a faint shrug, seeming miserable already with the entire situation. Hyuna took a deep sigh, then extended her pointed finger out, first to Jungkook. “You’ll be a rental, for sure. Doberman faunus are cute but have a dominant streak, and clients love to break something like that. Plus you’re a complete cutie yourself.” Jungkook grit his teeth, his hands clenching together so tightly that his knuckles were white. She then moved on to Momo. “You’ll probably be a hostess or server. You’re too sweet, they’d be scared of someone hurting you too badly to make you a rental. You might have to grind down on some clients and deal with their shit, but you’ll be safe from the deep stuff.” Momo didn’t seem quite as frustrated with the news as Jungkook did, given the circumstances, but she still bowed her head a little as she thought of what her life would be like from now on. Hyuna moved on, pointing to Suga. “You look like the type to punch a client if they get too touchy, so you probably won’t be made a rental for a while no matter how cute you are. But a catboy’s a catboy, and every cat faunus that comes here has to do it at some point. You’ll probably be a bartender or a host for a while until you break out of your shell.” Suga glared at the floor, biting his lip a little and puffing his cheeks, the grey cat ears atop his head twitching a little in irritation.

 

And then she was pointing at Hani. “You’ll probably be a hostess, too, like Momo. Again, you’re too sweet and weak, you’d be broken too fast. As I said, expect the common drunken guy to grab your ass every now and then but otherwise, you’ll be fine if you stay calm.” But then her finger slowly lowered and she sighed slightly. “Usually I can tell everyone, I’ve only been wrong like twice before… But damn, what’s going to happen to you?” She sighed, rubbing her eyes. N was quiet, and all eyes were on him now. “I’d say they’d make you a rental if you were a normal catboy. You’re cute, you’re feisty. Except you’re also a nationally known rebellion leader who caused shit for the army before happening to fall in love with the general who held you hostage.” The others went wide eyed, looking to Hyuna to see if she was joking or something… but her face was dead serious. “I’m not insulting you. It’s easy to grow close to someone when they’re the reason why you’re alive, especially as a naturally submissive thing like a catboy. I understand.” She smiled weakly, seeming to have some experience behind her words. “You can’t stay strong forever, not in this world. It’s okay to break a little sometimes.” N seemed the most conscious that Hani had ever seen him when Hyuna uttered these words, his eyes holding some light behind them as he seemed to be processing them over and over in his head.

 

Hyuna moved on. “The basics though… There are forty eight bunks and sixty faunus, so expect to be sleeping on the floor or the couches sometimes. There’s kind of a hierarchy system here. Humans first, the employed humans, then the clients. After that, it goes by how long you’ve been here. N might find it a bit different since he’s kind of infamous, but the other four of you are going to struggle with the big fish. They don’t have much power with the humans, so they like to press it on the newbies. I’ll back you up when I can, but I’m kind of busy. You just happened to catch me on one of my breaks. There are six bathrooms, but they all have six stalls, so generally you won’t be kept waiting to pee. There are only twenty showers though, and everyone is expected to shower at least once a day to be clean, so prepare your time to do that. Um… Let’s see…”

The door suddenly swung open before she could continue. It was the same human from before. “You five, come with me.” Hyuna waved her hand, indicating that they should follow him quickly, and they did so. Hani was back behind N, getting nervous. Was the marking that Hyuna had mentioned about to happen? She felt the nervousness piling up in her gut…

 

They were led through the red door at the back corner of the room, and inside was one big room with seven smaller tables with straps where the arms and legs would be if a person were laying on them. The walls were painted black and the lighting was dim… It was already an uncomfortable place to be. Hani felt something slipping touching her palm… Momo was behind her, holding her hand for both of their comfort. A man sat in the back corner of the room, a man that Hani easily identified as Seungri. She tried to keep from seeming afraid or angry or anything at all, but it was hard. This man was ruining their lives. Sweet Momo, Jungkook who had so much to live for, Suga who seemed miserable, Hani herself, and N who was already broken up over losing his loved one… This man had to be evil, all for the sake of some stupid, gross business.

 

The human led them to Seungri, telling them to line up in a row in front of the seated man. Seungri smiled as if he were looking at money rather than living beings. “This really is a nice catch. Hmm…” He pointed to Suga, who was in the front of the line. “Bartender for now.” Suga began to struggle as the man suddenly roughly grabbed him and started dragging him towards a table, but his struggle didn’t help much against the heavily muscled human, being a cat faunus and not having much form of defense. He was pinned to the table by another human while the first strapped him down and flipped a switch on the wall beside him. A small pot immediately began to heat up, the warm orangeish glow and the ash-scented heat radiating from it already. Hyuna wasn’t lying, they really were going to brand them…

 

Hani’s attention was forced away as Seungri pointed to Jungkook next. “Rental.” He put up a bit more of a fight, being physically slightly stronger than Suga, but ended up in the same position with his arms and legs strapped to the table, a pot of molten rock heating up beside him. Seungri pointed to N, smirking faintly, before speaking. “Pet.” Pet…? What was pet..? Hyuna had only mentioned rentals, bartenders, and hosts.. But the human behind them seemed to understand, grabbing N and pulling his loose, dazed form towards the table… For the faunus to suddenly jerk up and clock him in the face with one fast, well-aimed punch.

 

The man cried out as his nose gushed blood, probably broken, his grip on N’s shoulder letting go just enough for N to jerk out with sudden strength that Hani didn’t know he had. Had he been pretending to be weak like this so that they’d let their guard down? She was in awe as she watched him fight. Seungri yelled out for the men to grab him, but they were obviously struggling. Someone grabbed him from behind and he flipped over their shoulder, using their weight to take them to the ground before stomping on their throat, spinning and kicking another person in the side of the head hard enough to send them into the nearby wall. This was N, the real N, Hani thought. The strong N, the determined N. Whether this was instinct acting or this had been his plan all along, she didn’t care. It was awe-inspiring to see the man she had only heard about in action.

Momo tugged on Hani’s wrist, pointing towards the door. It was obvious that they should run in the time N gained as a distraction. The first man N had taken out had dropped his key card on the ground and Hani grabbed it, quickly rushing out hand in hand with Momo, determined from what she had seen that N could take care of himself. They ran out of the red door, stumbling down the hall as a few faunus glanced up in confusion at the ruckus. Hani scanned the card over the door, they just had to run through the club and they’d be out… Until she heard Momo scream and drop to the floor beside a figure that had fallen behind them. There were five human guards making a half circle around the three faunus. Momo was shaking as she stared at the limp and whimpering catboy with bright red hair… Hani’s eyes went wide. N was conscious, but not moving, panting through his lips in obvious pain as his body jolted and seized. She didn’t know what was going on until she dropped beside him and tried to touch his shoulder… only to feel a strong jolt of electricity shooting up her arm, making her jerk away. He was being shocked?! Then Hani remembered the government collar… The shocking device, the tranquilizer… They’d probably used both on him.

 

She wanted to comfort him, but couldn’t do so without touching him and hurting herself, starting to tear up as he cried out in pain, unable to move his limbs to even struggle with the tranquilizer rushing through his veins. Suddenly all the other faunus in the room rushed out of the room into the green doors, vanishing as they realized that this was a scene that wasn’t worth watching. Hani saw what had scared them when Seungri turned the corner, a dark but irritated smirk on his face, hands shoved into the pockets of his finely made jacket. Seungri’s cheek was bright red, as if someone had punched it… Her eyes went wide as she glanced down at N again, then at the small device in Seungri’s hand, a long finger holding down the yellow button firmly without seeming like he was planning to release anytime soon. “You little bitch. You think you’re too smart for me? I’ve dealt with far worse than you, Cha Hakyeon.” The addressed male couldn’t reply, gasping as the electricity stabbed at his body non-stop. Hani hugged Momo tightly as the girl began to cry. She felt like crying too, but strangely she was too scared to do so. They were so close…

 

“Take them back to the branding room. I don’t care about the girls, but put this brat in the isolation chamber after.” Finally Seungri released the button, but N was still jolting slightly with the electricity still coursing through his body. Once sure that he didn’t have more than a little static, a guard picked up his weak form and started to march back to the red door. Hani and Momo followed without having to be restrained, they were too scared of what would happen if they denied it like N had. When they entered there was a new, kind of gross smell that Hani didn’t understand until she saw Suga and Jungkook, still strapped down but with the same symbol burned in black into their skin, on Suga’s right shoulder and on the right side of Jungkook’s chest. They were both unconscious, but their faces were still morphed in pain. She suddenly realized that the smell was burned flesh and felt a strong urge to throw up. She held it down. She watched as N was strapped down to a table, then she was grabbed and forced into the restraints on the table right next to his, Momo on her other side. Momo was fully sobbing now, and Hani herself felt a few tears streaking down her face. She could feel the intense heat radiating from the pot beside her and it was nowhere near her skin. How bad would it hurt that it had sent both of the other boys into unconsciousness…? She found out when the only human still conscious that wasn’t a guard and wasn’t Seungri paced up to N, reaching for a rubber-padded pole that was leaned against the inside of the pot.

 

N didn’t have the muscle control after that much electricity to even struggle. The end of the metal pole was shaped like a flower, the grey metal fading in an ombre to a bright, firey orange, indicating just how hot it was. The man angled it where the symbol was to be placed: Right above his right hipbone. Hani wanted to stop them, she wanted to do something, but there wasn’t anything she could do to stop this no matter how much she internally pleaded for Seungri to just let the five of them go. N’s scream echoed immediately through the room, so loud it rang in her ears and it wouldn’t stop, constant screaming only halted for a miniscule breath before it came again. The orange flower was pressing against his lower stomach, being held on for three seconds now. How could three seconds feel so slow?! His screams brought her to full on sobs as his pain was made loud and clear, and it was almost as if they were just holding the searing metal there to torture him now as seven seconds went by. His voice was growing hoarse but he was still screaming and she was crying out for it to stop, unafraid of what they’d do to her, just wanting them to leave him alone! He fell silent, and she slowly turned her head in hopes that they’d pulled the metal away… but no. He had just fallen unconscious with the pain, the flower brand only now being pulled away after he had passed out. They were cruel, evil people. His skin was black where the mark was, crisped blood powdering around from where it had dried under the heat almost immediately. And as if it had been nothing but a job, the human walked to her next.

Hani squeezed her eyes shut, even as she felt the heat unbearably burning her skin without even touching her yet, the warmth on her outer thigh. She closed her eyes and wished that this wasn’t happening, trying to remember Solji’s smiling face to comfort herself before the pain hit and was so excruciating she swore she was being impaled over and over and she was screaming helplessly at the top of her lungs until the darkness requested to take her and she ran into unconsciousness as fast as she could.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------

 

“Hakyeon and Taekwoon are gone.”

“What?!” Ravi darted up from his chair at the words that Hyuk had gasped out. Ravi noticed that morning that Hakyeon wasn’t in the cell when he went to check on Ken, and then alongside that remembered that he hadn’t seen the general in a while either. He’d sent Hyuk to find them, too busy making plans against the rebellion, almost finishing up their tactical approach when the younger male rushed back into the room. “I.. I don’t know, so I called the gardens that Taekwoon normally goes to. There was a bomb in the gardens, hyung, but there wasn’t any body. Someone… I think someone took them.” Ravi stormed passed the boy, not caring if he followed. He had to check for himself. He rushed to the cell, but only saw Ken and Hongbin, who looked confused with the two humans’ panic state but didn’t have time to ask before they were running off again. Leo’s office, Leo’s bedroom, the dorms, the mess hall, Ravi checked everywhere, but Sanghyuk was right. “Get me video surveillance of last night after seven pm. Now!” The guard he had barked at was shocked at the sudden unexpected orders but darted off to do as he had been commanded to.

 

Ten minutes later three soldiers, a general, and a medic were all crammed into a small room filled with devices and screens of all sizes and sorts, old and new, flashy bright and powered off. Ravi’s eyebrows were knitted together, his arms crossed tightly over his chest as a man scrolled through the security footage between when N was last checked on in the cell and when Hyuk came to check on them to find Ken and Hongbin freaking out that their friend hadn’t returned yet. Hyuk’s face as he stared at the screen was white with worry and he almost looked sick at the prospect that the general and the rebellion leader could’ve been taken right from under their noses. It was obviously the work of the faunus army… but they had to be sure.

 

That assumption became confusing when the man who ended up pulling N from the cell for ‘vaccinations’ wasn’t visibly faunus, nor was he wearing a hat to hide any ears. What mattered more though was that it was a man that Ravi had seen walking the halls before, just assuming him to be one of Leo’s soldiers or something. This man who had been with them for at least a few months… How could this have happened without them even suspecting something might be wrong?!

 

A man entered the room. “There’s no evidence we can use, sir…” the man apologetically said to Ravi, flinching at his commander’s frustrated gaze. “General Jung Leo went on a walk and never came back, and the gardeners didn’t have any cameras on their premises. The hostage was taken without a footprint, fingerprint, or any type of hint being left behind. These people are professional… There’s nothing we can do to find out specifically where they were taken or if they’re alive at all.”

Hyuk had been quiet for the entire time they had been in there looking at the cameras, but suddenly he spoke up to interrupt the man, something he’d normally refuse to do to someone he didn’t know well. “They’re not dead,” he whispered. Everyone stared at the medic before the man in the doorway bowed his head. “I… I know we’re all in denial but…”

“No!” Hyuk’s voice raised and his fists clenched at his sides, and Ravi wondered if this non-violent man was about to get feisty for once. “What they injected into N… It wasn’t fatal. I dug through my medical storage until I found what was missing. It’d just put him to sleep for a while, quite possibly twelve hours to a full twenty-four. It… doesn’t help much, but it’s there. And the men I sent to the gardens called me and told me there was no sign of bones in the mess of the explosion and that there wasn’t a full body either… Which means Leo survived that blast, too. It’s… it’s just a matter of whether the people who took them are keeping them alive… And they are.” Everyone listened attentively, not used to hearing the laid back and usually carefree medic taking such a serious, demanding tone. “And think about it. Killing Leo will just get Ravi into Leo’s position and they won’t gain anything, especially if this IS the work of the rebellion. So they won’t kill him, they’ll hold him ransom for something, torture him, but not kill him. And if they’re keeping Leo alive, what better leash on Leo to have than N? We… we all know they love each other. It was a crazy situation, but they’re so close now when they already were to the point of dying for each other without even realizing it. So chances are they’re being used against each other… Which is terrible… but that means they’re both alive. And if they’re alive we can save them. So get a move on and find me some answers.” And with that the medic spun and walked out of the room, brushing past only one of the handful of shocked guards and an extremely shocked Ravi.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Leo wondered if this was how N felt, restrained with a camera shoved in his face, some crazy man blabbering on about how Leo was his hostage and pet and whatever. He wondered if he had caused the same emotions onto the faunus that he now had deep feelings for, the faunus that he’d do anything to see. He didn’t realize quite how important N was to him until N was gone… and chances were, one of them would die or go braindead before they ever saw each other again.

 

This was what weighed on him, what started to chip at his sanity. Not the bruises and the cuts, not the blood dried over his lip and down his chin, not the way that he was shocked a little every five minutes so he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, even after three days had passed. This was what made him panic a little, not the way GD was recording him live on a broadcast to his father, trading his life for some information and his eventual freedom for the rebellion’s success. He wasn’t hopeful in that prospect. GD didn’t seem to understand how highly regarded fathers functioned. Their pride, their ego, it was their first child, the one who received the attention and the protection. He’d always come second. His freedom was less important, his life was less important. He understood that with no emotions attached. It wasn’t anything he could change or fix, so he accepted it simply as plain, unchangeable fact. GD didn’t understand that his father wasn’t even going to consider trading anything for his son’s life.

 

The video must’ve been finished, because the camera was now out of the chameleon faunus’ hand and Leo felt a tug as his head was jerked up by the dark black strands that had fallen unruly over his face over the past few days of not being able to adjust it. He was getting sick of the handcuffs, leg cuffs, everything cuffs that restricted his movement so much that he was board stiff by now. He was getting sick of the nausea that came with only having a single stale slice of bread twice a day for a meal with a measly few dribbles of water. He was sick of it all… but it wasn’t going to end soon, and that was obvious.

 

“How’s my pet doing? Is Leo sad that his daddy has to see him like this?” He tried to keep his eyes as dark, glaring, and stoic as possible, not even having to fake that he didn’t give two shits about what his dad saw. It was only an inconvenience that his father would have to see him like this. He’d be called a pussy unworthy of his job. He’d probably be kicked from his position. At this point, he was drawing closer and closer to entirely not caring.

“Leo. Answer.” GD’s tone was demanding, and while Leo felt no fear, he didn’t necessarily want to be electrocuted again. Once more, was this how N felt when they had shocked him constantly for not saying the right thing? “How do you think?” Ah, there it was. His body jolted in its restraints as the shock zapped through his body. He’d never thought these government collars would be so heavy, he never thought the electricity could be THAT strong. He ground his teeth together but couldn’t stop the small cry that bubbled up in his throat. He never could, but at least it was better than the gasping yells that would come out at first. It was sad that his body was getting used to this so fast… Maybe he was getting nerve damage already.

 

“Repeat.” GD stared deep into his chocolate eyes with his own bright, firey-colored reptilian ones, just waiting for Leo to sass him again. He was too tired to take another shocking. “I’m doing kind of shitty, master.” GD rolled his eyes at the response but it seemed fine enough, probably only because Leo had called him master instead of ‘asshole’ or ‘motherfucker’ like he had been the past few days. The faunus rose from his slightly kneeling position next to his hostage, pacing in circles around the chair in the middle of the room. “Are you ready for your training, Leo?” He wondered why this sounded familiar. Oh, probably because he had said it to N before. Karma was really having a field day with this one. The only reason why Leo wasn’t moping in his own situation was due to the fact that he completely deserved everything that was happening to him right now and the truth that he deserved this pain for what he did. “Just get it over with,” he grumbled, resting his head against the back of the metal chair and squeezing his eyes shut, hoping that today wouldn’t be as bad as the last.

\-------------------------------------

 

It hurt. Any other thought was too complex in his head, so he kept repeating that over and over like a mantra, relying on its truth.

 

‘It hurts.’

‘It all really, really hurts.’

 

Leo was dead because of him. Not even dead, he had burned, screamed, suffered as he slowly withered away as he sat not ten feet away and still was completely unable to stop it. He could have done SOMETHING, there had to have been something, anything… But whatever it was, he didn’t do it in time, didn’t think of it in time, and now Jung Leo was dead. It hurt to think about, but he refused to even consider forcing it out of his mind. He deserved this pain for what he did, for what he didn’t do, for all of it. He deserved to feel the same pain that Leo was feeling when the fire engulfed him.

 

That was why he didn’t struggle before. He deserved to be sold, thrown in a cage, taken to live the rest of his life until he died in a club just like he had been born into one in the first place. This was destiny and he would fight it to the brink of everything if he wasn’t so fucking exhausted from everything. His heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest but he didn’t listen. His stomach growled and he silently muttered for it to shut up. He deserved it. But when he saw the other four, the girl named Hani who had comforted him in the van despite her own fear that he could easily sense, for the younger girl, Momo who cried and cried in both fear and gratitude in the truck as she was both saved and doomed upon being selected by Seungri… Suga and Jungkook who both had so much to live for; They were all so young… and their lives were already ending?

He refused to be so selfish as to continue sulking and ignore their problems.

 

So he fought. He fought like hell, he used every skill he knew he had and he took down ten men before he was throwing his fist into Seungri’s snooty face. It was a bad move. He should’ve expected the remote, he should have considered that he still had this damned collar on…! He had gotten so used to the weight that he didn’t even know it was there anymore until it had betrayed him and the needle had shot into his neck and he was on the ground, the nostalgic electricity wreaking havok on his muscles and nerves. From what he had heard, Momo and Hani hadn’t gotten in trouble. They were lucky that he hadn’t messed things up for them too.

 

And damn it, the branding fucking hurt. He hadn’t felt worse pain, couldn’t comprehend it even as it was happening, so intense that it drove him into unconsciousness within a handful of seconds when his pain tolerance was presumably better than most. It still hurt, throbbing even now, reminding him that he was alive and conscious. It was the only way he could tell.

 

An isolation chamber didn’t sound necessarily bad, but it was so dark in this empty, padded room that his eyes, even with the night vision, refused to adjust even after what felt like probable days. He didn’t hear anything but his own breathing, couldn’t feel anything besides the pain and the hunger and the heavy onslaught of guilt. He was glad he was out of there now, men having come in and taken him… somewhere. But where was he now?

A blindfold was blanketed over his eyes, and it was irritating that after three days (according to the humans who had taken him out), he still wasn’t allowed to see. He wondered if he was going crazy, but tried to pass that notion out of his head quickly and firmly so that the placebo wouldn’t get to him.

 

He was on his knees, assumedly on some form of hardwood floor; he could feel the ridges pressing against the bare skin of his knees… They must’ve changed his clothes while he was unconscious, his previous pants had no holes. The room held no specific temperature, not too hot or too cold, thankfully. The isolation room had been freezing, causing him to curl up into himself on multiple occasions only to irritate the fresh brand on his stomach. Other than that… he couldn’t get much information. There was some conversation going on, probably in a different room, but even with his skilled hearing he couldn’t tell what they were saying or how many people there were.

 

He tried to move and heard a jingling sound, feeling a tug at his wrists, which were locked behind his back. Legs? No, those were chained up too… He should’ve expected something like this. He remembered walking in on boys and girls in this same position when he was just a young child, sneaking around the club in hopes of finding an exit for him and his friend. He remembered his best friend in that club in this same position right before a gun was shoved between his lips and he was shot for trying to break a bunch of the slaves out. He tried to forget that. It seemed like no matter what he tried to focus his mind on, it always resulted in a thought that drove him into feeling even more pain. This was a complete mess.

 

A creaking sound, a door swinging open. Footsteps, probably nice formal loafers from the quiet clicking on the wooden floors. A soft hand was grazing his cheek… He didn’t have the energy to jerk his head away, but he did it anyway, groaning a little as the sudden movement shot a sting to his burned stomach. A calm voice chuckling at his frustration… It was Seungri.

 

“Hello again. Sorry that you were locked in that terrible room for three whole days. I thought that I might kill you if I saw you too soon with how angry I was for you hitting me. But now I’m over that.” He attempted to back talk. Leo was dead and Hongbin and Ken were safe under Ravi and Hyuk’s watch, so maybe if he was annoying enough he’d be impulsively killed and wouldn’t have to suffer anymore. It was worth a shot. But the moment he opened his mouth a hand shot out to press against it, muffling any words that would’ve come out. “Nuh ah, pet. Only speak when spoken to.” Pet. It was back to this again. But unlike before, his fight had almost entirely left him. He was ready to die, he was ready to give up. He didn’t bite and didn’t continue trying to talk. Rather than a jolt to the neck, that earned him an almost comforting rub of the head. Maybe actually being obedient every now and then would spare him some trouble. Before he had been too proud to even consider it, but now? Now he had given up.

 

“I’m going to take your blindfold off. You’re going to look me in the eyes until I tell you you can look away. If you don’t comply, I’m going to shock you for exactly twenty seconds. That won’t feel very nice with that wound on your stomach, so I wouldn’t suggest it.” There was a pause. Even though the hand over his mouth had moved by now, he still didn’t even attempt to part his lips. The man grunted with appreciation for his obedience before long fingers were grazing his cheekbones and the blindfold was being slipped over his head.

 

And he did as told. He stared straight into Seungri’s eyes, not even having enough energy to hate the man, reserving all of his hate for himself and GD to share fifty-fifty. And the man stared back. Four seconds, five, six, seven. Then he smiled and that large hand was atop his head again, rustling through his bright red strands, rubbing the base of his ears in a way that shouldn’t have comforted him. “Good boy.” Seungri stood, stretching his muscles and walking across the room, giving N reason to glance around wherever he was.

 

The room was huge. A gigantic bed in one corner decorated with an antique headboard, an overhang of sheer curtains from the ceiling above that were tied aside with two ribbons. Pillows in every color under the sun, different sizes and textures, were all piled around the head of the bed, while a beautiful comforter of expensive turquoise, crimson, and golden fabric rained down over the thick mattress. The floors were indeed hardwood and the walls were painted in beautifully simple patterns, all accenting one huge mural of an expansive fruit tree on the far wall from the bed. The doors were double doors that reached almost all the way up to the ceiling. There was a fancy table with four chairs surrounding in one of the far corners, various colorful rugs scattered across the gigantic room, and off to the side was a door leading to a bathroom the size of Leo’s office. Seungri didn’t disguise in the slightest that he was rich.

 

The man paced to a huge window that took up the entire left wall, staring out at the view of an expansive city that N had never seen before, even in his rather long travels. They were probably a hundred or so stories up from the ground. The sky was black with night, and he felt a sense of mild relief at finally being able to tell the time. Seungri dug in a drawer, fishing out… something. He couldn’t tell what it was until the man drew closer. “I know you hurt, pet,” Seungri cooed, as if he were talking to a child. Normally Hakyeon would be offended… but right now the comforting tone was what he absolutely craved to hear, the voice telling him that things could get better. “This’ll help.” Seungri held out two small, rounded, blue pills for him to examine. “This is called ‘slack.’ Many of your kind take it to help them relax. It eases the pain.”

That was all he needed to hear. In his compromised state of mind he didn’t care or even consider that he may be being tricked, that he honestly probably was. He didn’t bother acting up or processing whether he should or not. Seungri raised his hand towards N’s lips and without hesitation the faunus leaned down and lapped them into his mouth, swallowing. Seungri smiled once more, a soft smile that Hakyeon was sure he was faking but didn’t care. Fake or real, it didn’t matter, any comfort was welcome. The man brought him a glass of water to wash down the pills and he sipped at it hastily until the cup was empty besides a small ring of liquid left at the base. The cup was put down softly beside them. Seungri was now sitting on the floor in front of him.

 

“You’ll feel the effects within five to ten minutes. I’ll leave you to that since I have business to work on.” And just like that, the man was up and leaving and he was alone again. But that was completely okay… Because he was already starting to feel it.

 

His racing heartbeat slowed, down to normal then a little less. He felt his tensed muscles relaxing, felt his throbbing migraine let up more and more as the seconds on the large antique clock on the wall ticked by. He could finally breathe, not just what was necessary for survival but actual, full breaths. And there was a relief bubbling up in him that made him want to cry a little, because he had been hurting and tense and stressed for so long now it was only natural and this was the first time in quite possibly his entire life that he had ever fully laid down and just relaxed.

 

Hakyeon rested in this moment, staring at the ceiling which held much more interest to him at the moment, observing how his lower stomach tingled a little with pleasant butterflies and how his hunger faded away as if the tiny blue pills were going to each part of his body and telling them to leave him alone, to give him a break. He fell asleep like this, not knowing nor caring where he was or why anymore, just existing in this feeling of bliss, trying to stay awake as long as possible so that he wouldn’t wake up to it being over.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hakyeon focused, really intense chapter. I'm sorry in advance, since it might be a little overwhelming

The next three days had a regular schedule. When the huge clock on the wall struck nine, Seungri would wake up to the alarm on his phone, causing N to wake up in the process. He had been moved to a dog cage in the corner of the room, but it was big enough for him to sit up straight in and stretch his legs and Seungri had put a thick cushion in so it wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable if he discounted his pride stabbing him from the inside. Seungri had also had his government collar taken off. The new one was much lighter, which was weird after forever of wearing the bulky thing, but at least he didn’t have to worry about being shocked or tranquilized whenever. Now he could see the needle coming instead of feeling it when it was pushing into his neck. The new collar was black all around except for the front, which was just a thick gold chain. It was tight but it was fancy and he wasn’t sure if he should be grateful for the relief of the government one getting taken off or insulted that his collar looked like one that would be put on a rich woman’s lap dog. 

He’d wake up to Seungri’s alarm and sit there quietly, trying to adjust to the bright sunlight glowing through the curtains over the huge window. Seungri would go into the bathroom out of sight, the sound of the water running indicating that he was showering, before coming out shirtless with a towel around his neck and messy wet hair. He’d kneel by the cage and reach through the bars and rustle N’s hair. The first day he had grabbed the man’s hand and tried to break his wrist. The first day he had been locked in the cage all day with no food, water, or chance to use the restroom. He was a bit more reluctant to act up on the second or third day. 

Those two days things played out much better. Seungri would hook a thick, black leather leash to his collar before opening the cage and picking out his outfit for the day. Usually it’d be either a crop-top or a v-neck shirt with ripped skinny jeans showing hints of his tanned thighs. His boots appeared to be combat boots but had no actual steel or strength in them; Seungri wasn’t an idiot and knew that N would beat the shit out of him or his guards if he thought that he could win. 

He was fed well, meat and vegetables as well as scraps of whatever Seungri ate whenever the man felt generous enough to put the plate on the floor for him while he was eating. He accompanied Seungri to lesser meetings, and while it killed him inside to be silent and ‘obedient’ during this, he knew that he’d go through hell if he messed with Seungri’s reputation and he was too tired for that, physically and emotionally. And after meetings and meals and being led around the building to show off to regular clients who whooped and smacked his ass and grieved over how jealous they were of Seungri, they’d go back to the bedroom and he’d be pushed back into the cage to sleep. 

It was a cycle. He didn’t like it. But there were ups and downs to everything. He missed being free with Ken and Hongbin, but he didn’t miss leading the rebellion that he later would find was completely disloyal to them. He missed being with Leo… N shut his mind of the moment that even came up. His best way of dealing with Leo’s death was by not even thinking about it. It hurt, it hurt horribly, and he’d find himself sobbing silently in the middle of the night upon re-living that moment every night since he had arrived. He woke Seungri up the second night, but the man took pity on his ‘pet’ and rolled back over. 

And then there were the drugs. ‘Slack.’ Seungri gave it to him every night before bed, right after he would be locked in the cage. It was crazy how fast it could relax him, and despite knowing it had to be having negative effects, N found himself looking forward to the bitter blue pills. The brand on the left side of his stomach throbbed throughout the day, but that was gone a few minutes after swallowing the tablets down. He’d feel light, his burdens lost, and when he tried to remember what had previously upset him nothing came to mind. There was no Leo when he was high on slack, there was no restriction, no hatred, no betrayal. He just felt light and relaxed and happy and safe and everything he hadn’t felt in so damned long that it was foreign. 

The cycle was broken on the fourth morning. He woke up as usual to Seungri’s alarm, groaning and curling up into the soft blanket he was provided with, pulling it over his head so that the loud noise was muffled. The man got up and showered as usual, hooking his leash as usual, taking him to the huge closet to find him an outfit that he had no say in. Today it was black skinny jeans with, as usual, designed tears on the thighs. They were tight and hard to get on, but when Seungri tried to help him work them over his ass he growled and thankfully the man was in a good enough mood to dismiss that and back off rather than punish him for rebelling. The top was a black, long sleeved shirt that would be completely plain and normal if it didn’t only fall to his ribcage, completely exposing his flat stomach with small ridges of abs and the prominent, deep brown lotus flower burned right above his hipbone. He pulled on his boots and stood board stiff with his head down, irritably waiting for Seungri to look him up and down to confirm whether he looked good enough before he was given a thumbs up and taken from the closet. They went down the elevator as usual, it taking forever since they were on the hundredth floor. But once they reached the bottom floor, Seungri led him to the room that he had first come into, the room that housed the other faunus… and unhooked his leash. “Alright, go have fun. I have things I need to do today. Don’t do anything stupid, you should know that I have eyes on you at all times.” And with that, his only source of direction for the past few days was gone…

And everyone in the room was staring at him. Glaring would be a better word actually. Around twenty faunus shocked and slightly disgusted at what was standing before them. They had a point. They all had similar outfits, the girls with miniskirts or booty shorts and bras for tops, the guys with tight black t-shirts and even tighter jeans. Color wise their clothes all matched, up until the collar. Their collars were plain black with a little loop. His was much more intricate and looked way more expensive. That with his already infamous reputation made for a not good presentation when he was suddenly thrust into the room by the owner of the biggest club in the country and left there. 

Two girls started whispering furiously from across the room, N choosing not to pick up on what they were saying despite being fully capable of doing so with his good hearing, before they left. Others had a different idea in mind. N stared up at a faunus that had stood from the couch he had been lounging on to walk up to him, now with in a foot from him and probably at least four inches taller despite him already being pretty tall. “So you finally joined the rest of us huh? What do you think? Too dingy? It must be pretty gross compared to the room Seungri probably gave you.” N growled a little, rolling his eyes and turning to walk off. The man grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, meeting his sharp glare with his own. The guy was tall, buff, and a long thin tail swished behind him with a tuff of fur at the end… That was paired with golden eyes and slitted pupils… a lion faunus. “What, too good to deal with us? Just cause you were some stupid rebellion leader means you get all this special treatment. What do you have to do to keep that collar shiny, kitty, suck off Seungri’s guests?” His fists trembled at his sides. He wouldn’t punch him. He wasn’t going to fight. He’d spend his alone time finding a way out, a way back to Hongbin and Ken as well as a way to get the friends he had made before out, too. He wanted to find them, to see how they were doing. He didn’t have to look very far.

“Go away, Bobby, he’s probably not talking cause he’s too shocked at how ugly your face is.” N glanced up at the familiar voice right as the lion faunus growled something about ‘coming back later’ and stormed off. Hani sighed before glancing up and smiling, running and hugging him tightly. This was even less expected than the confrontation, but N found himself very slowly hugging back. He didn’t think he had ever hugged anyone since Hongbin had suffocated him upon his return to the camp, so it was a little foreign of a feeling. Once she pulled away, she was smiling brightly. “I thought you had died! Or been transferred or something! It’s been a week after all... “ A week… Oh yeah. Three days in the isolation room and three days with Seungri. “Has.. Have… you been okay? Things have been as okay as they can be here. Sometimes there are assholes like that guy and the customers can get overbearing but it’s way better than I thought.” He glanced over her shoulder at the countless people now glaring at both of them and bowed his head, motioning for her to follow before searching for an empty room.

One of the resting rooms had two faunus fast asleep in the bunks. Good enough. He sat down on the couch and rubbed his eyes, sighing heavily. “I’ve been fine… better than fine. Frustrated, but fine. Probably way better than any of you have been, which makes it worse.” Hani was quiet, even after he had finished saying this, staring down at her folded hands as she processed his words. “He… hasn’t tried to do anything to you?” N slowly shook his head. “Not yet… If he does I’ll probably just fight him till he kills me. I don’t… necessarily have anything to struggle for anymore.” She seemed sad when he said this, but didn’t bring it up. “That’s good… You don’t look hurt or sick or anything. I’m really glad.” He nodded slowly. “Well… over here… It’s been a ride. Me and Momo are doing fine, Suga, too. I mean there are rowdy customers all the time but it’s easy to just give them what they want and leave. It gets… really dehumanizing after a while, but I’m used to that from my last club.” 

“But… Jungkook?” Hani seemed surprised that N remembered the names of the people he was introduced to back when he was too shocked and hurt to speak. She bowed her head. “He’s… struggling. They made him into a rental, which I figure you can guess what that means. He tries to act like he’s fine but he’s really broken up about it. They do gross things to him and there’s nothing he can do to avoid it or even argue over it. But other than that… he’s okay. He’s just really stressed.” N nodded slowly, taking this in. If he needed a reason to not just let himself die, it was here. These four who were trapped here like him, these four and possibly many more that he could set free. “N…?” He glanced up and grunted a little for Hani to continue. “She looked down. “I… I want you to be careful. It may seem like you’re being pampered now, but the others who were here said Seungri had a pet before…” 

“What about it?” He didn’t mean to snap, but he hated that title. ‘Pet.’ He hated it like crazy. She flinched but continued cautiously. “...She died. Seungri threw her to some men he was trying to make a deal with and they raped and killed her to see if he’d argue. And he didn’t just so they’d accept his deal.” N glared at the ground but didn’t say anything. “He… he may feed you and dress you better than us, but just… be ready for something bad like that. Also…” 

Hani seemed to realize that the cat faunus beside her was tense, her ears ducking a little but her need to ask the next question seeming to overpower her worry of him being mad at her. “They… told me that he got her started on drugs so… so that she wouldn’t run away.. And so he could get her to be more obedient when he needed her to be… You haven’t… been taking those right?” His silence was enough of an answer. Hani sighed, hiding her eyes with her hands. “N, why…? Of all the things you didn’t fight against…” 

“It doesn’t matter, it’s just some stupid pills,” he mumbled. “I can fight it if I wanted to, I just haven’t had a reason to want to.” But suddenly Hani was slamming her hands down on the couch beside her, standing up and spinning around to glare down at him. “But you CAN’T fight it! Addictions don’t WORK like that! This type of drug will make you do everything anyone says, the only reason you haven’t gone through that is because he probably hasn’t asked anything of you while you’ve been high on them. You’ll be stuck in a rut and soon your body will get used to it and you’ll start getting all hot and bothered and then you’ll just be mindless and stuck here because you can’t get it anywhere else and…!!!” His eyes were wide but as he listened to her words he found himself hating himself. He should’ve considered what they’d do before he just took them in hopes that they’d  calm him down. Sure he enjoyed not having to worry, but from what she was saying…. He should’ve known… and most of all, he should’ve at least cared enough to avoid them just in case…. 

Hani was crying and he didn’t know what to do about it, bowing his head and trying not to meet her gaze. “I’m sorry,” he muttered softly before she was sitting down next to him again, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and hugging herself a little. “Why are you sorry to me..? You’ve fucked yourself up, not me. Damn it, N, why…? Don’t you know how scared we are for you..?” He opened his mouth to argue but she interrupted him before he could. “Yeah, I know, you can handle yourself, whatever! You only seem tough to other people because you led the rebellion and all that, but right now you’re weak! You’re sad and you’re alone and you’re trapped and you’re weak, and worst of all you’re literally taking every excuse you can to kill yourself because you feel bad for Leo!” His eyes went wide and he froze, and the moment she realized what she said she froze as well. 

“N, I didn’t mean that…” He was already standing, storming out of the room. “Wait! No, I’m sorry okay! I’m just…!” She grabbed his arm and he yanked it away, leaving her alone in the room. He made his way to the bathroom right across the hall, rushed into one of the stalls, slammed it shut and hovered over the toilet as the nausea grew to be overwhelming like it always did when he remembered what had happened to Leo right in front of him. Leo who had so much to live for, who was killed because of him in front of him. What Hani had said about Seungri and the pills. The fact that he was in this shithole to begin with. Thoughts alone drove him to emptying his stomach into the bowel and not  coming out for the next three hours before Momo knocked on the stall and told him Seungri was looking for him and getting impatient. And like any good ‘pet,’ he immediately went to find his master.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What’s wrong?” He didn’t reply because honestly he didn’t know himself. He wanted the pills, the tiny blue tablets that were in Seungri’s hand, within access if he just reached through his cage’s bars and took them and swallowed them down, simple and easy… But Hani’s words kept replaying in his head and he just couldn’t do it. “I don’t… want them,” he mumbled quietly. Seungri cocked an eyebrow. “Why not?” There were countless answers and he had to find the right one. “I’m not in the mood.” Suddenly the cage was being unlocked and he was being pulled out by the collar. Wrong answer.

“Then get in the mood. I want you taking these every night.” He was shoved down onto the cush bed, Seungri crawling over him and sitting on his stomach, pressing against his brand wound, causing him to flinch but shakily reply, “No.” Seungri’s usually soft expression was suddenly very dark. Normally N listened. This was probably the first time since the day he arrived that he had acted up at all. Suddenly his jaw was grabbed tightly, the pressure point being unavoidable as his mouth was popped open and the two blue pills were being shoved down his throat. He gagged on Seungri’s fingers, trying to struggle and turn his head but having his face held firmly straight. “If you choke to death I’ll kill ten other faunus here,” Seungri said bluntly once he realized that N was making no effort to get the pills down. But after those words were spoken, the gagging let up and N was glaring up at him. “Show me you got them down,” he said next, N’s mouth opening a little. Seungri sighed before pulling it open more with his fingers and tilting N’s head side to side, pressing under his tongue, making sure that they were gone completely before his face relaxed again. 

“Good boy. See, that wasn’t so hard.” N was still glaring. He had avoided doing so, trying to save his fight for GD once he got out, but he was pissed and he felt hopeless and he wanted it to be known that he wasn’t going to take this bullshit anymore. Seungri didn’t seem to like that. A loud smack echoed throughout the room and it took him a second or two to recognize the sharp stinging on his cheek as he glanced back to the man above him in surprise. “Don’t glare at me, bitch, after all I do for you.” And he was glaring again. “Damn it, I shouldn’t have let you near the other animals." Seungri stood up, effectively releasing N of his only restraint, which was his body weight. The catboy immediately flung up, tackling the man to the ground, curling his fingers around his neck. There was no shock collar this time, no way Seungri could stop him until the man stared straight up at him with a bold and confident and completely not-terrified expression and said, “I’ll have your friends killed.” 

What?! N slowly released a bit in surprise and in that moment Seungri flipped them, curling his own fingers around the faunus’ throat but much, much tighter so that N had absolutely no air. Seungri was panting a bit, catching his breath. “That’s right, you’ll play the hero. You’ll die for your friends, that’s clear, but what about your pride. What comes first in that huh? Now when I let go stay down or I’ll kill that catboy Suga first.” Normally he would’ve fought anyway. He’d be able to stop Seungri from hurting Suga if he killed Seungri, which he could. But the drugs were taking effect and he was so weak, his limbs so light and heavy at the same time. So when the man stood, he stayed on his back, glaring daggers at Seungri as he stormed to the dresser and tore open one of the drawers, pulling out various items. 

“Now get on the bed and lay on your back or I’ll kill the doberman.” Jungkook. N growled loudly to show how much he hated Seungri for this, but found himself crawling up onto the bed and rolling to his back. Seungri marched up to the bed and grabbed N’s wrists, slamming them against the headboard and cuffing them painfully tight above his head with metal handcuffs that dug deep into his skin. He then grabbed N’s ankles and did the same, though that didn’t hurt so much with the protection of the thin leather of his boots. “Now beg me to spare them.” 

He was silent. This was crazy, Seungri was fucking crazy. There was no way… Seungri waited three seconds before slipping his phone out of his pocket and dialling a number, waiting a second before speaking. “Grab the dog faunus Hani and bring her to an empty room. You might be shooting her in a few moments.” He was serious…?! N grit his teeth, his pride screaming at him to stay silent but everything else begging him to just get it over with. Finally though he decided.

“Master, please don’t hurt them, they didn’t do anything.” Seungri muttered ‘hold up’ into the phone before pressing another button, then glancing at N again. “And who DID do something, pet?” This was hard, almost impossible. His lips refused to open, his voice refused to make sound. He forced it anyway. “I.. I’m sorry, master, it’s my fault for being bad.” Seungri seemed to be growing more and more content with his answer. “And will you act up again?” 

“No master, please let my friend go.” There was a pause of horrible anticipation, of fear that he’d be evil and hurt Hani anyway. Seungri lifted the phone back to his ear, seeming to note N’s fear and take his time with his answer before finally muttering, “Alright, nevermind. Let her go.” N sighed in relief, his head thumping against the headboard as it fell back. He felt so relieved but he also felt disturbingly empty, like something was missing, like his dignity had up and abandoned him. Seungri hung up before pressing another button on his phone… and N immediately tensed again as he heard his own voice. 

‘Master, please don’t hurt them, they didn’t do anything. I’m… I’m sorry, master, it’s my fault for being bad. No master, please let my friend go.’ He felt like throwing up at how desperate he sounded, how fucking submissive he sounded, but he didn’t press any further. His head was spinning, probably the stupid drugs, and he didn’t care nearly as much as he figured he should. Seungri seemed satisfied with his reaction though and shoved his phone back into his pocket.

“Now one last thing before I forgive you.” Seungri was unhooking the handcuffs, N not even considering trying to attack him now with how weak and fragile his body felt from the high. “Get me off.” What…? No, he knew exactly what Seungri was asking, but after what happened last time he said ‘no,’ he didn’t have the energy to attempt it. “How…?” he muttered so quietly he barely heard it, but somehow Seungri did. “Your mouth, your hands, whatever your pretty heart desires. Hurry, I’m impatient.” 

So he was on his knees, Seungri’s pants down and his hand around his length, his eyes focused on the ground, his heart shredding itself to pieces, his mind floating in the clouds telling him to just enjoy it because ‘wow he felt so good,’ even though he suddenly knew that ‘good’ feeling was a lie and somewhere deep inside he hated himself more than ever before. 

And even after the man had released all over his face and clothes and shoved him back into the cage, leaving him to resort to wiping it all off in disgust with his blanket, he still felt like this, this unworldly sense of half being in euphoria and half feeling in so much emotional pain that he wanted to die. It made no sense, it made absolutely no sense. But he was beginning to accept one thing that he had never agreed to in his life: That there was really nothing he could do about it.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a double update. Please read Chapter 14 if you haven't.

-Saturday-

Things were different now. Now that he had threatened rebelling, now that he had implied that he wasn’t mindlessly heartbroken like Seungri had thought. Things were harder now, implied as the routine changed that next morning.

The alarm woke him up, but before he could really wake his cage’s door was being thrown opened and his hair was grabbed, N yelping a little in surprise and pain as the crimson locks were tugged hard and he stumbled out after Seungri's hand. He was pulled to the center of the room where he was shoved on the floor, Seungri dropping to sit on his chest before he could even think of getting up. He didn’t understand, his mind being in too much of a daze to really comprehend what was happening since he had only woken up a little over a minute before. 

"Open your mouth." The words were quick, blunt, and demanding, Seungri not seeming to be in any mood to take an argument as he had also just woken up. N bit his lip for a second, remembering what Hani had said and not wanting to take them, but when he saw the dark glint in Seungri's eyes he reluctantly parted his lips. Seungri seemed satisfied enough, but the rough treatment continued. His jaw was grabbed and Seungri's other hand lifted up and dumped a small handful of what felt like and had to be the small blue pills into N's mouth. He counted them on his tongue, four whole tablets....

"Swallow." He didnt want to, but remembering how Hani was almost killed yesterday because of his rebellious actions brought him to taking the pills down despite how hard it was to swallow this many dry. After that he was shoved back into the cage for Seungri to take his shower.

And N was worried. Why had Seungri given him the pills (and so many) this early when he normally did it at night? Why did Seungri want him calm? Ten minutes of nervous waiting drew into ten more minutes of finding his mind relaxing, his tensed limbs becoming light, his stomach and mood fluttering like a feather on the breeze. The water shut off, but Seungri didnt come out. Ten more minutes and N noticed his vision blurring a bit but thought it was kind of funny, felt giggly in general. He felt good... really really good.

And ten minutes after that, Seungri came out and opened the cage once more, hooking up his leash. "Follow me," he muttered, and N was crawling out to stand, following his master curiously. Where were they going? Was it somewhere new? 

He was led down the elevator to the fifteenth floor, the ride down being a long one with him shuffling from putting his weight on one foot to the other, restless and wanting to move a bit. Seungri took note and smirked a bit, but N didnt pay much mind to that. 

"We're going to do a test," he said once the elevator dinged at the fiftieth floor, thirty five more to go. A test of what...? "Kiss me, pet." N blinked in surprise before shrugging the confusion off, turning to face Seungri, leaning up a bit, and pressing his lips against his master's without hesitation. He didnt see why Seungri would want him to do this, and he really didnt see why Seungri didnt initiate it himself, but N followed instructions anyway. He deepened the kiss a little, and Seungri was pressing him back against the elevator wall, pushing his tongue into his mouth. N moaned a little at the feeling, each of his senses escalated to be almost double so the feeling was blissful and all he wanted in that moment was for Seungri to keep touching him.

But the elevator dinged as the sixteenth floor was passed and Seungri pulled away, chuckling softly, laughing a bit harder once he saw N's confusion. "What's funny..?" N asked, somewhat worried that he had messed up somehow or did something stupid. "Nothing, pet. Don't worry about it." So he didnt.

He was led down a hallway and followed Seungri into a room at the end. The inside of the room was large but occupied by a huge table, twenty five chairs, and thirty five men. Some older men and women in suits were sitting while around thirteen men were standing, wearing black suits and dark sunglasses that hid their eyes. N noticed that a few of them had ears and tails like he did, more specifically like Hongbin did. Tiger faunus with stripes on their faces, ram faunus with curled horns... Many rich people had faunus bodyguards. That was a lot of rich people for one room.

But everyone was staring at them as they entered. Seungri naturally drew eyes with his attractive features and expensive jewelry, and then there was N. Bright red hair and the gold chain of his collar sparkling in the light. Together they were a sight to behold.

A man at the end of the table stood and bowed, the others at the table following suit. "Seungri, welcome. I see you've brought your pet." There was murmuring, but N tried to ignore it to focus on each of the faces. A few were familiar. One man was a powerful government official that N had seen on tv once or twice, a woman was a celebrity singer who’s newest song was always replying on every radio in the country. One of the faunus looked familiar too, somehow, but he was too dazed to really recognize that or care too much. Seungri walked to one of the padded leather rolling chairs and plopped down, leaning back and resting his legs over the side, which most people would consider improper. However no one in the room seemed to care much, as Seungri waved his hand, beckoning N to his side. “Sit,” he said bluntly… so he sat, kneeling beside Seungri’s chair on the ground. He could only see the feet of the people now but that was okay. He could still find some entertainment in listening. 

“He’s very well trained. I saw a video of him on the news just months ago saying that he was a major threat and showing him leading a massive faunus army… Is this really the same N?” Seungri laughed before replying arrogantly. “It is, yes, I’m just good at my job. I brought him, in fact, to show you how good I actually am. So here you go.” He clapped his hands, and the projector lit up, the far wall being engulfed in a huge video with muted sound. N’s eyes went wide as he realized quickly that that was him on the screen. In fact, it was the last fight he had partaken in. He was aiming at Leo from a distance, the general not noticing him yet, while faunus all rushed into the army camp. He could see the mech he knew Ken was in at the time, he could see Hongbin in the distance and his heart twisted a little. He missed them. 

“I’ve had him for eight days now, and I’ve taken him from this…” Seungri motioned to the video, waving for it to be cut off, letting the screen click back to the plain white wall once more. “...to this.” And his hand was now pointing at N, kneeling on the floor, blinking up at his master in mild surprise that he was getting so much attention drawn to him. “Does this show you my skill? How good I am? That, along with my many flourishing businesses and professional human staff should be signs that I’m someone worth investing in, yes?” He was eyeing one man as he said this, one man who was scribbling down notes onto a notepad who was too busy to even notice he was being spoken to. Seungri moved on. 

“So what did you all want to speak to me about? There are many familiar faces here, but also many that I haven’t had the honor of personally meeting yet.” And the man at the end of the table was speaking again. “Yes, I’ll be explaining. We’re having a convention for our corporate staff and others invited. We wanted to use some of your faunus as servers for the convention. The men are drained and could use some loosening up, and we wanted to go to only the best dealer to make a purchase.” 

Seungri nodded, half interested, only replying after a good few seconds of silent consideration. “That’s fine. Just tell me how many faunus you want, what gender, what breed, all the likes, and I can get that ready. I expect twenty dollars per faunus per hour.” N’s eyes went wide at the high amount of money, but the business owner didn’t seem phased. “Of course. I was thinking mostly females, since most of our staff seem to take a liking to those. The more lax breeds as well, small dogs, foxes, songbirds…” The man’s eyes trailed down to N, who stared back blankly. “...cats…” Seungri seemed to take note in the way the man stared at his pet, his eyes narrowing a bit. The man seemed to sense the sudden tension and shook his head, getting back to his point. “If that’s alright.” 

Seungri sighed a little, seeming already bored with this meeting. “Good, deal done. I expect full payment by Saturday next week and I’ll have the faunus shipped to your location the day before. Email me the venue and times and such and that’ll be taken care of.” The man nodded and sat back down. “But if I may ask, sir…” Seungri continued, glancing around. “This is a good number of people for a small request like that.” The man swallowed, nodding. “That’s right. We... “

Suddenly another man interrupted, the politician who was running for president that N recognized from the tv. “We noticed that you were in contact with the faunus rebellion and wanted to know why, all of us being connected to your business and being fearful that the government might come after you if you were too involved with an illegal group. We see now why you were involved with them.” 

Would Seungri take offense..? But Seungri seemed oddly calm. “Do you though?” The man was taken aback. “What..?” 

“Do you see why? Do you think it’s my pet here?” The man swallowed and nodded, the entire table going quiet and tense. “That’s true, I did contact them recently to take their traitorous ex-leader off their hands. But do you want to know why I didn’t immediately turn and give the government their location?” The man slowly nodded, suddenly realizing that he felt attacked. Even though Seungri wasn’t yelling, wasn’t even jabbing, his glare was enough to make a normal man pale in the face with anxiety. “It’s because I don’t fear the government. They suck up to me, not the other way around. They buy faunus off of me all the time, those higher ups. They’d lose their sex toys and their unpaid workload if they put me out of business. That’s also why they haven’t come to confront me about having someone on their wanted list literally on a leash at my side.” Seungri reached down, stroking N’s hair and ears, and it felt nice so he rubbed back against it. “Because people are disgusting, people are selfish. They don’t care that he’s a criminal, they care that they keep me on their good side so they keep getting their faunus shipments, whether for pleasure or for military work without the whole ‘rights’ policy. They won’t touch him, they won’t touch me. You could say I’m above the government. Keep that in mind if you get elected next year.” The man was silent, simply nodding and sitting back in his chair. 

“Is that all?” Seungri asked, very unphased by the sudden heavy tension in the room. “I did have a question…” The celebrity woman suddenly asked. “I know the topic has been on the same thing this whole time but… I know a lot about faunus dealers, I’ve dated a few. They keep their faunus obedient in front of others by threats. How can we tell that you don’t just have him acting this well because he’s being threatened somehow?” Seungri smiled as if he had been waiting for this question. “I’ll show you, dear.” He then glanced down to N and very plainly said, “Go sit on the previous male speaker’s lap.” He didn’t see anything wrong with that, not really understanding why he was asked to do it but standing anyway, his leash slipping out of Seungri’s hand and dangling from his neck as he made his way around the table. The politician seemed shocked as N pushed back his chair and straddled his legs, glancing back at his master as his tail flicked a bit. Seungri raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong, Wonho? Tell him what to do next.” But the poor man was too shocked, staring up at the faunus who turned back to stare down at him. Seungri sighed. “Pet, make him feel good. Nothing too indecent though, we don’t want to embarrass him.” How should he do that..? Kiss..? Would he mind..? N decided that the best way would to be leaning against his shoulder, starting to gently suck and lick at the man’s exposed neck. He was sure that would make him feel good, it was worth a shot. The man gasped a little, pushing N off of him. The faunus whimpered a little, falling to the ground in front of the man, his chocolate ears ducking. 

Seungri sighed once more before looking back at the woman. “See who took the initiative there? If he didn’t want to do it, he wouldn’t have made an effort when Wonho didn’t give him orders. Come back, pet.” The woman nodded with a small smirk as N made his way back to Seungri’s side, falling beside the chair, still a little upset that the man pushed him off like that. “Well? Anything else?” The room was silent for ten seconds. “Good. You all have a good day then.” Seungri then picked up N’s leash and as his master stood, he did too, following after hurriedly but not before glancing back to the politician and cutely glaring him down with a pout.   
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-Sunday-

Hyuk wondered when the last time Ravi slept was. The general had spent night upon night, day upon day doing everything he could to try and find the two, Leo specifically. He made angry calls, desperate calls, and then calls kind of like the one he was making right now as Hyuk walked into the room with a plate of food for him.

“Where did you say? Repeat that... Yeah…. Yeah, okay but… Right… So you say you saw the camp, but you don’t actually know it was the camp? You didn’t go inside did you..?.... Right, that would be stupid… You saw a faunus…?... Alright, thank you.” He hung up with a heavy sigh, rubbing his bloodshot eyes. Hyuk chose that moment to place down the plate, smiling a little, but sadly. “Ken misses you,” he said softly, Ravi giving a soft nod. “I know… I want to visit him, but Leo and N are probably suffering or…” 

“Hey.” Ravi glanced up at the suddenly very firm tone. Hyuk wasn’t smiling anymore, but he didn’t seem mad this time like he had been the last time he noticed that Ravi hadn’t slept in days. “You go take a break. Get those two some food and spend time with Ken, then go to sleep. I’ll take over for now.”

“But…”

“No, buts. You need to rest or you’ll never be able to find them. I just woke up, I’m well rested and well fed and can probably focus like twenty times better than you can. Besides, I already know. The forest near Saseum Canyon, right? I’ll send people to check there once you go.” Ravi was quiet, but he had been outplayed, and in his sleepless state of mind he didn’t have much argument built up to throw back at the young medic. “Alright…” he muttered, stretching as he stood from the chair he had been seated in for probably two days straight. Hyuk plopped down in the chair immediately after, scooting up to the large desk covered in papers and laptops. “Don’t forget to take your food with you when you leave,” Hyuk called as he was just about to walk out the door. How was a twenty one year old medic so bossy? 

He probably looked a wreck, the soldiers making their way down the barracks hallway staring at him cautiously as he passed. He was sure he smelled as he hadn’t taken the time to shower, his eyes probably had bags… But it didn’t matter. It made him happy when he figured that Ken probably wouldn’t care. Ravi felt guilty for not visiting the shark faunus for a week, he really did, but he was so dug up in his search for the two that suddenly went missing that he couldn’t take the time to take a break. He knew, he was positive, that N and Leo were locked up somewhere at the faunus camp. Who else would kidnap them? There would be no motive, especially not to take Leo in such a flashy way as a bomb. 

As he approached the cell he couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from rising and staying put there as he saw Ken laying on his stomach, a hand pressing on his cheek holding up his face as he doodled random nothings on the floor. Hongbin was curled up in the blankets of his futon; Hyuk had checked in with Ravi on their status throughout the week…. It seemed as though Hongbin never got out of bed other than to pee. 

“Ken, Bin.” The two glanced up and Ravi immediately knew for certain that they were just as affected as he was. Their eyes had dark circles and Hongbin had some crust in the corner of his eyes from tears that he had never wiped off. “Ravi.” Ken made an effort to smile, but didn’t succeed very well, the grin looking weak but not forced. “You came back.” He felt guilty again. “I’m sorry for not visiting. I was looking for them…” 

“Did you find anything?” Hongbin interrupted, his voice scratchy and weak. He was probably getting sick; Maybe that was why Hyuk was so snappy. None of them were taking care of themselves in their misery, Ravi included. He nodded, but only for the sake of Hongbin’s relief. If anyone else asked he would’ve said what he found was useless. But for the tiger faunus who looked weak and like he would beg for any amount of information at all, Ravi slowly began to speak. “I think the rebellion took them… No, I’m positive. And I found out that they’re new location is near Saseum Canyon somewhere. We have men going there now….” Hongbin nodded softly, seeming a little more relaxed than before, curling back up into his blankets and murmuring a soft ‘okay’ past the layer of his pillow. Ken dropped his chalk and stood up, stumbling a bit as he did so but catching himself quickly before Ravi could try to reach through the bars of the cell to do so. “I know they’re okay. They’re strong, like the strongest people I know. If no one finds them I’m sure they’ll just bust out themselves, knowing them.” Ravi smiled a little, but everyone who heard knew that Ken was only saying that to make them all feel better. It was true that both Leo and N were very strong people, but everyone had a limit and Ravi was positive that their limits were being pushed at that very moment. 

And they were all hungry, tired, and exhausted… and he suddenly wanted them all to just take a break. “Ken, do you want to come eat with me? Fuck rules, let’s all go to a restaurant. You too, Hongbin, Hyuk as well. Let’s just… go eat and relax for just an hour.” Hongbin’s head shot up, his eyes narrowing in a dark glare. Ravi knew exactly what was coming. ‘We can’t waste time eating while they’re suffering.’ So he countered before Hongbin could even open his mouth to speak. “There’s nothing we can do to help them right now. While the men are searching the canyon we should take the opportunity to rest a bit.” The tiger faunus was quiet, everyone was, before…

“I’d really like that.” Ken smiled softly, nodding before hurrying over to Hongbin’s futon and grabbing the other faunus’ arm, tugging him up with defined strength, Hongbin hissing a little as he was pulled from his blankets. “Come on, you haven’t gotten up in ages and we haven’t left this building in like way over a month. Don’t you want to get some real fresh air?” Hongbin seemed to want to sulk in his misery, but then Ken indicated the key turning point. “Think about it, a nice dinner with Hyukkie? You won’t get that opportunity again for a long, long time.” Hongbin sighed, rubbing his eyes before standing up himself, jerking his arm away from his friend. “Fine…” Ravi nodded firmly. “I’ll go get Hyuk and we’ll all sneak out of here before any security notices you two leaving. I’ll be right back.” And he rushed down the hall, fully confident in the impulsive decision he had just made.   
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Hyuk had been on board the moment Ravi mentioned ‘sneaking past security.’ It seemed that while the younger male dodged the actual battlefield he loved the drama and intensity of doing something against the rules, this time being sneaking two legally confined faunus out of a government facility. But it all had gone well and now they were all in Ravi’s old green truck, cruising down the highway. Jaehwan’s head was down the rolled down window, and even Hongbin had his window down, his hand riding with the air that rushed by the car. “Wooow, I missed this,” Jaehwan cheered as he watched the signs and cars flash by. “Get back in before someone recognizes you,” Hongbin scolded, but he couldn’t hold back his smile either. Ravi felt a little bad for them, having to live in a cell for weeks without access to the outside world. 

“We should be there within ten minutes. I wanted to get us away from the big city in case someone recognizes you from the tv. You weren’t as popular as N was but you were still projected out there.” Hongbin nodded at Ravi’s words, Ken just shrugging. “I don’t care where we go as long as it’s not another stupid cell and it has outside seating.” 

They pulled up to the small diner fifteen minutes later, experiencing a tiny amount of traffic but nothing too big to worry about. Ken immediately hopped out of the car, Ravi having to jump out himself just to grab the faunus and stop him from running in. “Hey, you idiot, wait up.” Ken stuck his tongue out and started to struggle a bit. “I’m hungrryyyyyyy,” he whined. Ravi sighed, grabbing Ken by the ear and pulling him back towards the car. “And you won’t be eating much once they see your government third-level collar, they’ll be calling the police about a runaway. Put this on.” He didn’t give Ken a chance to do it himself, wrapping a thick red scarf around the shark faunus’ neck. Hongbin already had a blue one on, blinking over at his friend and shrugging. “Oh, right,” Ken laughed. Hyuk sighed a little. “Jeez hyung, you’re gonna get us all in trouble if you stay so excited. Let’s just go inside.” 

The hostess sat them at a booth in the far corner of the small diner, handing them menus and telling them that their server would be right with them. She was nice and she was human, something that Hyuk had considered when quickly picking out a lone restaurant outside of the city. He was glad that the two faunus appreciated it when Hongbin murmured how grateful he was to not see faunus waitstaff working their asses off for very little pay. 

They ordered a ton of food, something Ravi had considered when he was counting his money before they left. They were all rather athletic and young, which meant they all had huge appetites. And while the facility cooking staff tried, the government food was just… bad. Once the mass of plates arrived on the table everyone was too busy stuffing their faces to speak for a good ten minutes before they were full enough to slow down. “It’s so gooooodddddd…” Ken gasped, Hongbin moaning a little in agreement. Hyuk was laughing, wiping a little chocolate off of Hongbin’s lip as he stated, “It’s like neither of you have ever had food like this.” Hongbin nodded, much to their surprise. “No one would ever serve us, whether they recognized us from the rebellion and called the police or the fact that we were faunus without a human present. We like never get restaurant food.” Ken nodded quickly, his mouth full of ice cream as he added, “This is like our fifth restaurant ever. This is great.” 

Ravi was about to speak on how he had to sneak them out more to try even better places before his phone rang and he was quickly standing. No one had to ask, they all knew how important this call could be. Without even stating that he’d be right back, he walked from the table and straight outside before answering, leaning against the brick wall of the small building. “Give me details.”

“The camp is here. One of our men managed to disguise himself and sneak in and out without confrontation. He said that the camp is big, huge. Estimated at least a thousand faunus. I don’t know how it got so big so fast.” Ravi released a little of his held breath, but most of the tension still layed on his check. “And Leo? N?” 

“We didn’t necessarily find him, but the person we sent in said that the faunus were all rowdy, saying things about how they finally took down both of the leaders they hated.” Ravi took this as enough of an answer. They had Leo and N there, and he was going to get them back. “Come back for now and rest. We’re having a raid tonight at midnight. Good work.” And with that he hung up and rushed back inside, anticipation, nervousness, excitement, bucketfuls of emotions dumping into his heart and his mind as he went to inform the others about the new information. They could have the two that had been taken back by the next morning if they played their cards right.


	16. Chapter 16

“Say hello.” 

“Hi, asshole.” 

“Be more polite.”

“But master, I don’t like him.”

“Do it anyway.”

GD smirked at the live video call he was watching on his laptop. Seungri and N were sitting on a large bed, N laying his head in Seungri’s lap, both staring at the screen with rather blank faces. “Hello. How are you.” N’s voice was sarcastic and irritable but GD didn’t even care. “Hi, kitty, are you liking your new home?” 

“Shut up.” 

“Pet.” At Seungri’s warning, N sighed and rolled his eyes, sitting back up and folding his arms over his chest. “Yes, it’s great. It’s fantastic. Can you stop talking to me now?” Seungri sighed. “That’s the best you’re going to get. I think if I drug him any more he’ll overdose. I already gave him four this morning, and I had to give him four more just to get him to hear your name without throwing a fit.” 

“It’s fine,” GD laughed. “That’s good enough by far. You’ve got him well trained, I’ll give you that. I won’t have to worry about him again?” Seungri nodded, pulling N’s head back down so that the faunus was laying on his lap again, the catboy not necessarily struggling to get back up once Seungri let go again. “He’s not leaving my side. I like him. He’s feisty, he’s cute, and he has a reputation, which boosts mine when people see how much of a little sub he’s become.” The chameleon faunus nodded, leaning back in his chair. “How much do you think he’d freak if I showed you-know-who this video call then?” Seungri shook his head. “Do you want me to suffer? I work so hard to train him and you want him to go back to being a pain in the ass again? Don’t do it.” Damn, GD thought. He really wanted to see both of the lovebirds’ faces when they saw each other in both of their sorry states, N sucking up to a faunus dealer and Leo locked up in the torture room being more emotionally tortured than physically. He did want a good picture to show to the general, but he figured that’d be regressive for both parties. It’d be funny though.

“So what are your plans with you-know-who?” They found very quickly that saying Leo’s names would send even a drugged N into a small panic attack and made an effort to avoid it, for their sakes rather than his own. It was difficult for Seungri to deal with, and since GD respected the man he didn’t push too much. “I don’t really know. His father isn’t budging on the whole ‘completely ignoring my son getting tortured’ thing. I told him I’d make him my pet once I do the whole reform thing… by the way, you’re not included in that since you helped us… and I’ve been doing all that pet training shit since I’ve been bored, but all we can really do is find Canis and get him to let up. If his son won’t do it, I don’t really know what will.” Seungri nodded halfheartedly, N shuffling to get comfortable and unintentionally rubbing his head against the dealer’s crotch. Once N felt something hard pressing against the side of his face he sat up again to find somewhere more comfortable to sleep, only to have Seungri grab him and place his entire body in his lap, curling his arms around N’s waist and resting his chin on his shoulder, much to the sleepy faunus’ dismay. 

“Canis sounds like the type of person who doesn’t make too many connections. The best way to deal with those people is to offer business rather than make threats on relations. Give him something that he wants, then wreck him from the inside out.” GD nodded at Seungri’s advice, sighing a little. “Well I should get back to you-know-who. Do me a favor and record it if you play with your new pet any further? I kind of like watching him be sweet for you like this when he used to be all stuck up, independent, and full of himself. It’s entertaining.” Seungri rolled his eyes, muttering a small ‘maybe’ before pressing the red button on the screen, the call dropping.

“Why do you talk to him?” N asked, his words a little slurred. The drugs would do that, especially after so many in one day, but Seungri found it kind of cute. “That isn’t your business.” N just shrugged, sighing a little as Seungri’s body heat was too warm and if he struggled Seungri might get mad. “Master, I’m hot,” he mumbled, but Seungri just grabbed him tighter. He himself had had a little too much to drink and was feeling frisky. “Then why don’t you go ahead and take off some of those clothes?” And N found no reason not to, so he stripped down to nothing but his collar, pulled back onto Seungri’s lap to watch a live feed of some political discussion he didn’t care about, only actually losing focus when Seungri’s hand traveled down his body, pulling him up, flipping him over, and telling him to suck him off. And once again, he saw no reason not to, so he did.  
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He wasn’t sure if it was healthy to be so hungry that he actually threw up twice. Wouldn’t that be worse, to throw up when he was hungry? When his body needed to reserve all of its energy? He was drenched with sweat and he was sure he was sick with something, but that didn’t matter too much.

What he was more focused on was how damn tired he was. He’d go to sleep and wake up exhausted, he’d go back to sleep and the cycle would continue. Sometimes he’d be jerked awake by GD, but GD didn’t really stop by to see him very much lately, much to his relief. It seemed like the new faunus leader had grown bored of his attitude, and after three days of torture that felt never ending and STILL having the general spitting insults in his direction, Leo felt like he had finally won as much as he could.

But with GD not visiting came no food or water. His muscles were aching from being strapped to this chair for probably a full week now if his internal clock was right,  and his mouth was so dry that his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth when he tried to move it. Most of all, his wounds ached like crazy. GD was insane; He had known this, but it was a little more personal when it was GD himself throwing the blade and the whip and the paddle around Leo’s body like a five year old beating on a pinata. Blood was staining every inch of him, how much he had lost probably factoring into why he was so tired. There were deep streaks down his back from the whip that screamed at him every time he moved and they brushed against the back of the chair; GD had kept with his promise and came in on the third day, whipping Leo for every time he had said Hakyeon’s name… Twenty one strikes. He was bruised all over from the steel paddle slamming down onto his legs and arms and chest and even the side of his face when he told GD to fuck off. His stomach and arms were all cut up as well, and he was grateful and probably very, very lucky that GD didn’t accidentally strike an artery in his frenzy. 

But mentally, he was nowhere near broken. He had too much to keep going for. N was still in one of those clubs. He kept in mind every word that GD had said. The drugs were what he was most worried about. GD had claimed that he’d ‘never have another lucid thought,’ and that made Leo worry. Would he be forced to take these? He doubted that N would comply with someone wanting to touch him otherwise. Would he be addicted after…? He had to get out before that. He had to get N out before they had the chance to break him like that, and he had full confidence that he would.

He already spent hours watching the guards on their schedules, catching their faces and remembering them, noting the times that they’d rotate through their schedule for breaks and sleep. He noted the ones who were more focused and awake, the ones who looked stronger, and he figured the best time to break out would be when the four guards were the weakest and sleepiest, probably at some time in the middle of the night. The main issue, the reason why he was still locked up, was the stupid chair he was cuffed to. The damned thing was nailed into the ground deeply, and with cuffs on nearly every inch of his body he could barely move a muscle, which made even struggling extremely hard. But Leo had faith that he’d figure it out. 

And right as he thought that, right on cue, the weaker, sleepier guards previously noted came in to replace the ones before them, already looking bored despite their shift just starting. Leo decided that he’d get out tomorrow night for sure, he’d spend tonight trying to find his way out of this chair and then he’d dart.

It turned out that he didn’t have to. 

The door flung open, everyone’s heads shooting towards it, even his. Great, GD was back? It had been days since Leo had seen him, and he wanted that to continue. The man was insane as he was evil. But no one walked in. Instead there was a small click and Leo noted the familiar rolling sound of a metal object on the concrete floors… and by instinct alone he ducked his head, closed his eyes, and held his breath just in time before the smoke bomb went off. 

With his eyes closed he could only listen for what was happening in the commotion. There was the shuffling of feet, fierce whispers and a few shouts that Leo recognized as the voices of the guards before he felt something cold and metal digging into his cuff and his skin alike, a somewhat loud buzzing sound and a warm heat occurring before he felt the restraint give and he was suddenly able to move his arm. He opened his eyes, sure that the smoke had settled enough that it wouldn’t get dust into his vision, barely able to see through the thick fog that engulfed the room. The man that had moved on to his other hand with the machine that melted and cut off his cuffs was wearing an army uniform… Leo felt his hopes spike a bit. They were here to get him out. He wished he could see the soldier so that he’d be able to thank them personally, but they were wearing a full faced mask (probably to get through the smoke quickly) and even if he saw them he probably wouldn’t have enough moisture in his mouth to speak. Instead he just grunted softly, indicating that he was grateful and hoping that the man caught onto this as both arms, then his ankle, then the other were all freed. The man moved on to the two cuffs on his chest and stomach as Leo stretched his muscles and hoped worth everything that he’d be able to actually stand without collapsing once he was capable of doing so. A week without moving probably rendered his muscles temporarily useless. But once he was fully freed he was standing and his legs weren’t giving out.

And he was running. They both were, him and the man who had saved him. He didn’t see anyone else, but that was tactically correct; If they were trying to be silent with this, they couldn’t bring in more than a handful of people. The area seemed heavily forested, which helped to their advantage, and to Leo’s surprise the man seemed to already know his way through the area, leading him straight to a large, tightly knit mass of trees. And they kept running for what felt like hours until Leo’s weak, malnourished body finally couldnt take it anymore. He hit the dirt hard, groaning as some of the powder got into his legs’ bleeding wounds, the scabs having torn as he ran. The man realized that Leo wasn’t behind him anymore and hurriedly turned back, picking up the general with a decent strength and continuing. Suddenly Leo noticed something though, how familiar this man’s scent was… then it clicked.

“R… ra…” He really couldn’t speak. At first he had thought that it was because his mouth was dry, but as he tried to say his friends’ name he realized that his throat was searing with pain. GD had choked him on multiple occasions, maybe that had hurt his vocal chords somehow…? But the man knew what Leo was trying to say. “Hold on, we’ll get you back. Damn, I’m so glad you’re still alive. I was so damned scared, Leo, seriously…” Leo nodded softly, not wanting to even consider attempting to speak again as it hurt like hell the first time. They were quickly approaching one of the government registered cars and the door was flung open, Hyuk jumping out and hugging Leo softly, noting his wounds, before the trunk was popped and the medic, Ravi, and Leo were all piling in. “Get going!” Ravi called to the driver, and they were pummeling away before the door could even close.

Ravi pulled off his mask, throwing it over the seat to the backseat, shaking out his helmet-rustled hair and glancing down at Leo, the head general realizing that both of his friends were in tears. Honestly he would be too if he wasn’t so dazed. He had missed them. After suddenly being torn away, he was glad to be back with people who gave a shit about him. Hyuk started to address his wounds, not even warning him before dumping peroxide over his entire body, emptying a full bottle and pulling out another right as the sting started to appear, then grow, then shit. He tried to scowl at Hyuk to be more careful but when he tried to speak all that came out was a small grunt and then the pain was back. Hyuk took note of this and once he was finished wrapping every open wound (Leo wondered if he looked like a mummy with so much wrapping), he got to massaging Leo’s throat. “Can you speak..?” Hyuk asked softly. Leo slowly shook his head, mouthing ‘hurts’ and sighing a little in relief that his friend nodded in understanding. “You have bruises. He choked you right?” Leo nodded softly, Hyuk rubbing his eyes and pulling his hands away, dialling a number on his cellphone and jumping the seat to try and have a private conversation. 

Ravi sighed, rubbing his eyes himself. “We were so damned worried…” But when he pulled his hands from his eyes, he saw Leo staring deeply at him, needily, as if asking for something. He thought. Water…? Hyuk told him not to give Leo anything to drink or eat in case he’d have trouble with it, saying to leave it to someone with medical training in case he couldn’t actually get it down and needed a tube or something. The thought made Ravi shudder. What was it then…? Then… Oh. 

“We… we didn’t find him.” Leo’s eyes fell and he exhaled slowly, his breath shaky. He was worried about N. “We searched the entire compound before we busted in to save you. The only place we didn’t check before that was the room you were in. He… he wasn’t there.” And suddenly Leo’s eyes were wide and he was jerking to a sitting position, wincing heavily but reaching out a trembling hand. “What..? Hey, lay down! You’re hurt, what’s up with you?!” But Ravi paused his struggle to get Leo lying down again when the main general managed to grab Ravi’s phone from his pocket and started to type furiously before handing it back. Ravi took it somewhat nervously, anxious at what had gotten Leo so worked up. The notes were pulled up, and Leo had typed something out there.

‘N is at a club. GD sold him. Please help him, Ravi.’ 

He was shocked at what he was reading before shakily muttering. “Hyuk..? Whoever you’re talking to about whatever medical bullshit can wait… You need to see this.”  
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Two hours later the car was pulling up to the base once more, Leo and Hyuk rushing away to take care of Leo’s major wounds, but Ravi didn’t follow. He knew he’d just get in the way anyway, being completely clueless when it came to medical stuff no matter how much he wanted to stick with Leo for the rest of forever after he was taken for an entire week. No, instead he went back to his office and spent his fourth night in a row wide awake. Because while he’d be fine with just having Leo, with taking no more risks, he knew Leo wouldn’t rest until N was back as well. Ravi didn’t see why Leo was so panicked about a club; Ravi had been to a few himself and the faunus there seemed like all they had to do was refill drinks and maybe grind a little on the customers. But Leo had to have some reason, so Ravi did his research…

….and even though he didn’t necessarily care too much for N, he still found himself worried. 

Drugs that would make a faunus mindless and receptive to any command, faunus being put on these drugs for the emotional comfort only to wake up from a high to find they had been raped by multiple people overnight, only to be so distraught that they went back to the drugs to subside their pain… But now that he thought about it, he doubted that N would be allowed to walk around the floor willingly. He was too rebellious, he’d do anything he could to break out and that would ruin the club’s reputation. If he was still in some club, he was probably kept at the back… He found a page posted by a faunus who had been freed by her master’s own will, a very rare case, who had worked in a club for a while. 

‘There are different jobs as a faunus in a club environment. Sometimes you get lucky and get to be a cleaner or a bartender. With a counter in the way of the clients or when you’re avoiding them completely to clean things are fine, just really uncomfortable and exhausting. Being a server is a bit worse, as the clients are grabby and want you on their lap, want to touch you and won’t take no. Worst of all, if you piss them off by not doing what they say they’ll call the club owner in. To them you’re just an object, so they’ll dispose you if you’re not making money. Get too many complaints and they’ll slit your throat and throw you in the trash. I’ve seen it happen, it’s not a lie. 

A step up from that is the rental job. This is the worst one I’ve ever had. It’s where you’re put in a room and clients flip through a booklet of all the rentals pictures and descriptions and pick out who they want. If they pick you they come in and have sex with you and you really can’t do much about it. It’s back to the previous situation; If you cause too many problems and don’t just go with it you’ll be killed.

But then there’s one more job, one that not even club faunus know much about. It’s called ‘pet.’ My club owner (who I won’t name in case he finds this article) had one for a while. He’d flaunt her around. We all disliked her because she was fed better food and didn’t have to work her ass off, all she had to do was please one guy who wasn’t that unattractive. But then rumors went around that she was killed when he threw her to some guys in exchange for business. We thought that he picked her because he loved her more than the others, but it turned out he picked her out because she was more appealing to the businessman type and he could get more out of her. I wanted to be a pet at first, I figured it’d be the same as being a rental but with only one man. It’s not, it’s much worse. Because it’s not like they’ll just kill you if you’re annoying, you don’t get to escape through death like that. They’ll just drug you until you’re incoherent and then when they’re done with you or can trade you off for something better, THEN they’ll let you die.’

The article continued about how she was grateful to be out of the clubs, how she was glad to be free and on her own despite the discrimination she still faced, but Ravi skimmed over that until he reached the end, then scrolled back up to those lines. N would be one of these things, but he already knew which one it was. Any of the first ones would involve N having some form of freedom. Even if he were a rental he’d probably kill the person who came in, he was skilled enough to overcome physical strength and could probably take down a man twice his size with little effort if he wanted to. The only thing left was the ‘pet’ job. So now it was to find all of the club owners in the country. He was sure it was going a bit overboard to scale out that far, but knowing GD he’d take N as far as possible so that he wouldn’t get out somehow. 

There were ten he narrowed down by the time the sun rose the next morning. Ten owners, fifty-seven clubs. Now came the hard part… actually finding which one N was in. He decided to give himself a break. Ravi found himself pacing down the hallway to the medical ward, wondering how Leo was doing. Hyuk had come in mentioning that he had already done hundreds of stitches and that some of his crew was continuing with that, mainly on Leo’s back. He also mentioned that there would be a throat specialist coming in, the person Hyuk had called that night. 

The specialist turned out to be an old man, sitting in the chair in the waiting room, his eyes closed but his breathing showing that he was very much awake and attentive. Ravi passed him by, making his way cautiously to see the bedside that was surrounded by four men in medical garb and masks, including Hyuk, who noticed Ravi and stepped aside to talk with him.

Hyuk’s sleeves and the front of his medical coat were covered in blood, Ravi swallowing. “Is it going okay..?” Hyuk followed his friend’s eyes down before quickly nodding, trying to ease Ravi’s obvious worry. “Ignore the blood, that was from earlier. He’s doing fine. His back was a complete mess, but I think we’ve finally got all the lacerations stitched up. He doesn’t have any issues with his spine either, which is good.” Ravi glanced back at Leo, wincing a little as he noticed a small, thin tube running into Leo’s mouth, the older male fast asleep and probably on some heavy anesthetics. “He can’t eat?” Hyuk glanced back, slowly shaking his head. “Something’s wrong with his throat. He can’t speak, and the man sitting in the waiting room there, one of my college friends who studies throats and stuff said that he’d probably gag so hard he’d suffocate himself to death if he tried to swallow anything down. It seems like something in there was broken or pushed the wrong way when GD had choked him.”

“Can… can they fix it?” Hyuk nodded quickly, almost too quickly, as if he was trying to reassure both of them that this wasn’t as serious of a problem as it seemed to be. “Of course! It… it might just take some vocal therapy and some work with rehabilitating the muscles in his throat. We can find out what’s wrong a little more specifically once he gets some nutrients, but I don’t think he’s eaten in days so I prioritized that.” Ravi nodded, agreeing with Hyuk’s decision. “Well… I just came to check on him. I’ll go back now…”

“Ravi, wait.” Hyuk was grabbing the older male’s sleeve, quickly letting go once he realized that his gloves were completely stained brownish red with blood. Ravi didn’t seem to care much though, turning back. “Wh… what did you find out? About N? I’m worried about him.” Ravi glanced down. Right… N… He felt a little guilty for putting the faunus behind the general on his list of priorities. “I did some research, and it seems like he’s a pet for one of the head honchos that run the clubs.” Hyuk nodded grimly, seeming to anticipate something like this. “And are there any clues on what physical condition he’ll be in when we find him?” 

This made Ravi feel the sympathy for N pool back into his chest when he remembered what the girl that had posted the article had said. “He… he’ll almost certainly be addicted to something. Some kind of club drug. The article I read said that the withdrawals are brutal.” Hyuk suddenly fell back into one of the waiting room chairs with a groan, much to Ravi’s surprise. “Are you okay?!” he asked and Hyuk slowly nodded. “Slack.” 

“What?”

“Fucking slack. He’s going to be on slack.” Ravi was getting a little annoyed in his impatience. Hyuk wasn’t making much sense. “Yeah, and what’s slack?” Hyuk rolled his eyes as if Ravi were an idiot that knew nothing. Ravi grumbled; it wasn’t like HE went to medical school and was trained in all of these things. “Slack is a drug that’s passed around at clubs a lot. A lot of club owners will drop it to their faunus. At first it’ll calm them down, relax them, and that’ll be really great because most of the time they’ll be emotionally distressed about being taken from their freedom and put in that situation. In small doses it does just that, relaxes the mind and relaxes the muscles. That helps so that they can be easily restrained if they fight, since a lot of faunus are genetically stronger than humans.” 

Ravi nodded, listening attentively, not seeing why Hyuk was so bothered by this. “But druggies always do this thing. Once you take something in a certain dose a number of times, it stops having the same strength as it did before. And they want to feel just as good as they did before, so they take a little more. Then a little more the next time. On and on until they’re downing pills like candy until they overdose and die. That sort of thing. Slack is a club drug, so usually club owners will be the ones to monitor how much their faunus get, which means they can control the addiction. If a faunus gets too unruly all they have to do is take away the drug and they’ll either swear on their life to never be rebellious again or actually go crazy and die.”

“So… N…” Hyuk shook his head, interrupting Ravi’s beginning statement. “No… N won’t die. You said he’s a pet for some guy right? That means some guy is using him personally. He’s one hundred percent on the drugs, yes, but the man probably cares about him a bit more than the others. He won’t cut him off completely. He won’t let him die that easily, especially given how N’s reputation probably helps him out.” Ravi nodded. He got that. If the man could train N of all people, the infamous faunus rebellion leader, then he could train anyone. “What probably happened was that N was forced to take the drugs, they calmed him down, and as the other faunus he started to like that whether he wanted it or not. The dosage has probably increased over time and it’ll keep increasing until he’s like those pets you see in the movies.” 

Ravi shuddered because he knew exactly what Hyuk was talking about. The faunus who sit at the master’s side, following every order without hesitation, only happy to please. Even if he wasn’t the closest with N, he didn’t want to see the catboy turn out like that. “So… we’re on a timer then.” Hyuk nodded. “It takes a little time to get fully addicted to something, and that depends on the dosage, too. If he’s given too much at once he’ll overdose, so we have probably a few more days before it’ll be reasonable that he’s addicted fully. We need to find him and save him before that or we’ll never get him out.”

“What do you mean never?” That didn’t make sense. Why did it matter if he was addicted? “Think about it, Ravi. Pets in the movies? The only thing on their minds once they’re hooked enough to be taking up to ten pills a day is pleasing their masters. What would THEY do if someone came in and tried to forcefully take them from that one person who they’re told they live for?” He sighed heavily, finding himself also falling back into a chair. “They… they panic. He’ll panic… He’ll call for whoever his master is and we’ll probably get killed or something before we can make it out the door…” Hyuk nodded. “Right. These club owners have deals with our higher ups, we can’t just pull the ‘we’re the government and can do what we want’ cards. So we need an actual plan... “ Hyuk then glanced back at Leo, watching his friend sleep silently as the men worked on cleaning him up. “...and we need to find a way to explain this to Leo so that he doesn’t go running in unprepared. Because while the faunus don’t lose their memories when high like that, their emotions do go into whack…. We don’t know how he’ll react to seeing Leo and we don’t want to risk it being negative.”

Ravi groaned. “This is a mess…” Hyuk nodded again, finding himself nodding constantly throughout the entire conversation. “Yeah… What’s worse is that it’s nowhere near over once we get him out. Withdrawal is insane, especially with slack. This is going to be shitty and uncomfortable for everyone, especially N and especially Leo who has to watch him either mindless when he’s high or in pain when he’s not.” Ravi leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes tightly. Why couldn’t things just be simpler…? “Yeah… but we can’t just give up on him. We’ve got Leo back… Let’s get N back, too.” 

Hyuk stood up, extending a hand to help Ravi up as well. “Let’s go see Ken and Hongbin,” Hyuk offered. “They don’t even know how the raid went, I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear the news.” Ravi nodded, but he figured that Hyuk was missing something. The fact that they thought that N was in the faunus camp too, the fact that they’d be panicked and miserable to find that their friend wasn’t in the horrible situation they had expected… but in a situation much, much worse.


	17. Chapter 17

Hani would have been happy to see N again if it weren’t in these circumstances. She wanted to apologize, she wanted to talk. It had been four days but she was still shaken up about it… Why did those men suddenly come in and pull her away from her work just to put a gun to her head? They wouldn’t give her answers and she had been too scared to ask more than once… but she heard Seungri’s voice over the speakers that circled around their ears. One of them must’ve had bad hearing, because the volume was up insanely high. She was scared at the time; Had she done something wrong…? And then she heard N…. ‘No master, please let my friend go.’ Master…? Then she realized… All of what was happening to her so suddenly was Seungri threatening his ‘pet.’ And suddenly she wasn’t scared anymore. She was just really mad.

 

They let her go, but she was still on edge, wondering if they’d pull her aside again just to shoot her this time. So when she finally heard the muttering going around that the ‘boss’s pet’ was back in the faunus dorms, she rushed around trying to find him. He was in the last stall of the third restroom she checked, Hani only considering looking there due to the coughing that faintly resembled his voice. N was knelt over the toilet, gagging so much he was choking but nothing was coming out. Once he pulled away he was visibly shaking, hugging himself tightly and trying to catch his breath. Hani didn’t want to watch anymore. 

 

“Hakyeon…” She had learned his name from Hyuna, who had saw in on the news. Hani wouldn’t have asked for it normally, but N was such an inhumane name… She wanted him to be able to trust her, and the first step would be to actually call him what he should be. He turned his head slowly and she’d have to be blind to not notice how heavy his eyelids were, how his eyes were glossy with tears and his forehead was glossy with sweat. “A… are you okay..?” She found herself kneeling beside the toilet as well, sitting across from her friend in the tight stall. But unlike how he normally was, with his superhero bravado, N slowly shook his head no. “I… it hurts…” he gasped out, Hani quickly pulling him into a tight hug to try and warm him up; she could see goosebumps on his skin so why was he burning up? A fever? “What hurts?” 

 

“My head… it hurts so bad…” It was withdrawal, she knew that the moment she had found him like this, but what was she supposed to say? It was either that he needed to endure it or get more drugs, and neither of those sounded like good options for her to throw out. Where was Seungri? “Why did Seungri… why did he let you get like this..?” N squeezed his eyes shut. “I almost killed him… I almost did it, Hani...” Hani’s eyes went wide in shock and she pulled away just to look at him to see if he was being serious. Maybe he was just delusional right now… but he looked like he was in the right state of mind for now, just in a lot of pain. “You what…?!” 

“I sucked up to him the whole day, he thought I was still high from the day before so he let me sleep in the bed with him and… and I almost… damn it I almost did it…” Hani bowed her head, sighing softly. “And he woke up?” N slowly nodded. “I was chained to the bed but I could reach the bedside table. There was a knife there and I was so close… but the second it touched his throat his eyes just… flew open, like he was expecting me to do it… and before I could even try he had taken it out of my hand and…” He went quiet. Hani knew him well enough already to know that his pride was keeping him from saying too much more, N being somewhat of a sore loser, but she pressed. “Where…?” Because she knew that Seungri had hurt him. Seungri was generally a level headed man, but when things happened suddenly like N punching him the day they had came in… he lost his cool quickly. N slowly lifted his shirt and turned, and Hani gasps. “I… don’t actually know what… he put…” N mumbled quietly. “The mirrors are angled too weird… What does it say?” She was quiet for a moment before taking a shuttering breath. “It just says N. That’s it.” She wasn’t normally a liar, but the sigh of relief he released made her feel both a little better and a little more guilty for changing the words. If he knew that ‘slut’ would be scarred onto his back for probably years, he probably wouldn’t have taken it very well… and the least she could do for him in this state was keep him from feeling a little worse. 

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“Watch your back, Seungri.”

“What? Are you threatening me? You call this early just to say that? Look I’ve had a rough day, if you’re going to threaten me then just….”

GD sighed angrily, interrupting the man before he got into too much detail. “No, you idiot, I’m warning you. Watch your back and watch your pet. Leo was fucking taken in the middle of the night. I just came back and the guards were all unconscious and he was gone.” 

“What..?!”

“Yeah, so watch your stupid pet. You were fine because everyone thought N was with me, but now that they have Leo back he’s probably told them that N at a club. I didn’t tell him your name, be grateful by the way, but they’ll for sure be searching. So do what you have to, but don’t let him leave your sight, either that or take him somewhere far away if you want to keep him.”

Seungri groaned, rubbing his exhausted eyes. “Thanks for calling. Sorry that you lost Leo.”

“Yeah whatever. He wasn’t helpful anyway. But I swear don’t lose N after all I’ve done to watch him break. Either shatter him before they find him or make sure they don’t find him. I’ve got to go.” 

Seungri groaned. He was pissed at N, furious for trying to fucking trick him and kill him, but what GD said had his anger calming softly. He had to make sure that N wouldn’t be taken like Leo had. He was fond of the faunus, and besides, he hated losing his jobs half unfinished. He’d have to speed up the process.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Seungri hadn’t come back for N by mealtime, which honestly made Hani really happy. She had spent most of the morning with him rather than sleeping, and while she was tired she didn’t mind it at all. She had been worried ever since she saw him in the crate beside her in the truck that brought them here a week and a half ago. When the bell chimed for them to go to the dingy meal room, everyone hurried through the double doors that lead there, excited to finally get to eat, even if the food was bad. Hani pulled N through the crowd, holding his hand so that he wouldn’t get separated. She felt like his guardian despite the fact that he was older and taller and stronger than her; With so many people out to get him, someone had to be there to be a motherly figure, and she was completely willing to take that role if she could just dim down some of the pain he had to withstand. 

 

Jungkook and Suga were already at the table, both of them jumping a little in shock at who Hani was toting along with her. “N!” Jungkook called out in surprise, flinging out of his seat and rushing towards the crimson haired faunus, quickly pulling him into a tight hug despite how the other faunus in the room sneered at them. “Hani said you were okay but… jeez you look awful…” N shrugged meekly, Hani glaring at Jungkook until he realized that he should stop staring at N’s tousled form and led the other male back to their spot at the table. “Tell us everything, really, we usually wait for Momo before we go get foo… oh, hey, Momo!” They all turned to see the girl running from the door, pouncing N in a hug so quickly that he almost fell out of his seat. “I missed you so much!! Gosh I was so worried!!” Hani smiled at the affection they were all giving. Maybe it’d help N a little to know that he’s not alone. She hoped so at least.

 

So Hani made sure to keep the conversation positive, not letting N or Jungkook say anything about their jobs in case they’d bring themselves down again. It was good to see Jungkook smiling again when he was usually so downcast about his clients and his situation… She didn’t want him to remember what he had been going through. “So I had this customer who was really nice actually!” Momo said ten minutes later in between bites of rice, everyone turning in shock to stare at her. “No seriously! I came to ask what he wanted to eat and he just smiled and said I had a pretty face…” And the four others were groaning, even N. “Momo, there’s a difference between nice and flirting,” Suga grumbled. “No, I’m not done yet!” the young girl snapped. “When I thanked him he said that he wished I didn’t have to work in such a bizarre place with crude men, he said that if he could afford it he would buy me just to let me go!” Hani had to admit, that was pretty nice. “He couldn’t afford it, but it was really nice that he would put in the effort,” Momo beamed. They kept talking, everyone smiling and having a good time for the first time in forever. Despite barely knowing each other, they were all a tight knit group due to the situation they had all been simultaneously thrown into. Everything was great… and then it wasn’t.

 

N flinched suddenly and Hani glanced around… and her eyes went wide in shock. There was milk dripping from the tips of his now soaked hair, running down his shoulders and soaking his shirt. Everyone looked up to see the lion faunus from before smirking, standing behind him with an empty, crushed milk carton in hand. “Oops, my bad,” he laughed. Hani was furious, but the first one to actually express it wasn’t her… It was Suga.

 

“Hey asshole, apologize,” he growled, standing. Jungkook rose to his feet too, and Hani became very well aware that both of her friends were about to fight this man. The lion faunus, Bobby, raised an eyebrow. “Why would I do that? I’m sure this slut loves being soaked in white stuff like this, I was just doing him a favor.” She didn’t really know much about Suga’s life, if he was trained to fight or not… Now she knew full well. No untrained faunus could fly across a table and slam someone’s head into the wall that fast. Jungkook was right behind him, but not to join in. Jungkook grabbed Suga by the collar to pull him off of the man, holding him back. “Damn it, Suga, calm down! If you cause shit you know what’ll happen..!” Slowly the other catboy calmed, his eyes narrowed and his pupils dilated with fury as he watched the lion stand. N was standing now, ready to join in this fight if he had to, evidently pissed at what Bobby had said about him. The man started to storm off, passing Suga up…

 

...before suddenly spinning and throwing the catboy across the room. Suga cried out as he smashed into the wall, collapsing in a heap at the bottom, groaning softly as he tried to stand but couldn’t manage to catch his balance again. Jungkook was rushing towards the lion faunus, yelling ‘You fucking prick!’ only to have a similar fate. Whether they were trained or not, it didn’t seem to matter; Bobby was insanely strong, having the physical strength as a lion faunus that neither of them were capable of resisting. Momo had rushed to Hani’, holding onto her arm tightly in fear until she saw Jungkook fall too and rushed past Bobby to his side… but Bobby was faster than her, grabbing her by the ponytail, pulling her up into the air as she cried out and struggled to be dropped… Hani was rushing forward to fight him, to get him to leave her alone because damn it Momo did nothing wrong and neither did any of the others, but someone was doing it for her…

 

The man screamed in pain as N lunged forward and twisted his arm with all the strength he had, a loud pop echoing through the room and Momo being dropped, the young girl quickly scrambling back to Hani’s side, whimpering and holding her head. N had shoved Bobby to the ground, slamming his fist into his face, but his weight wasn’t enough to pin the lion down and Bobby rolled them over, beginning to throw blows back at N. This went on, back and forth, and Hani found herself scared for N but she needed to focus on Suga who was whimpering softly. She hurried to him while Momo rushed to Jungkook. Suga was curled up, hugging his bloodied wrist to his chest.. Had he sprained it…? Or broken it..? She tore off her skirt, knowing that barely anyone but the clients cared about her body here and having underwear to cover her up was enough, instead using the fabric to wrap it tightly around Suga’s wrist, whispering soft ‘shh’s to him as he gasped in pain.

 

Hani didn’t look back at N until there was a crowd of faunus circling around the fight, whooping and cheering. Once she was sure Suga wasn’t going to die or anything she shoved through the crowd, only to freeze at what she saw. N was trying to push him off, trying to roll them over, but he seemed so weak suddenly, so exhausted… The drugs. The fucking drugs were wearing down his body and he couldn’t fight up to par. Bobby’s large hands were curled around his neck, around his collar, and N’s lips were parted but his chest was still, he couldn’t breathe..! Hani rushed forward, trying to shove Bobby off, only being thrown aside herself when one of the lion’s feet shoved out and kicked her back into the crowd. The clarity in N’s eyes was fading and she was rushing forward again, grabbing Bobby’s hands, trying to get him to let go and finally resorting to jumping on his back, trying to choke him herself to get him to get off of N. She was thrown down, Bobby slamming his foot down on her stomach leaving her gagging and breathless, but when she rolled over there was much more to worry about.

 

N’s eyes were closed, and while his chest was rising and falling, it was doing so in miniscule motions. The golden chain of his collar had been pressed into his throat so deeply that the sharper end of it where it met the black leather had pierced the skin, a small trail of blood running down from the scrape. Bobby seemed proud of his work and so did the other faunus who were always itching for some action. All five of the group was on the ground for one way or another, he had won over the newbies and the pet… That was until the doors slammed open and human guards rushed in with tranquilizer guns. 

One was immediately fired into Bobby’s back before he could even realize what was going on, the strong man falling forward with a groan before his eyes slipped closed. Hani tried to hold still on the ground but found herself crawling towards N, shaking him, trying to get him to wake up, why wasn’t he waking up…?! A guard rushed up and literally kicked her out of the way, grabbing N and lifting him off the ground. “Damn it, Seungri’s going to flip…!” the guard groaned as he glanced around. More guards were hurrying to Jungkook and Suga, only really making sure they were in condition to still work. Hani prayed that they were, and thankfully neither of them were grabbed, a sign that they wouldn’t be disposed of. She didn’t try to fight them for N, knowing where that would go, she only watched as her friend and the stupid lion faunus were dragged out of the room, ten armed guards remaining to tell the faunus to get back to their barracks or get back to work. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leo was staring out the window of Hyuk’s office when the medic walked in with a tray of food. It had been four days since they had rescued him, and while he was getting his voice back it was still a struggle. Hyuk found himself asking complex sentences, seeing how far Leo would go to reply. Today was no different. “What are you looking at? Is there something weird out there?”

Leo seemed to be catching on though, sighing a little. “Sunrise… It’s nice....” He was confined to his bed, Hyuk eventually having to handcuff his ankle to the damned footrest so that he wouldn’t jump up. The moment his wounds wouldn’t tear upon standing he, as expected, was ready to go look for N, and that just couldn’t happen. He wasn’t in the state he needed to be in for that, and N was too emotionally attached to Leo. They couldn’t know what to expect if he saw him after so much had happened.

 

Leo had explained the previous night what had happened the last time the two saw each other, the medicine numbing the pain in his throat so he could speak a little better than he could currently.

 

“We were on a stage… Me and N… and Gdragon... “ Hyuk nodded for him to continue, a little confused already with the story. A stage? “There were thousands of faunus watching… and N was in a cage and I was tied up… and both of us were trapped…” He’d take breaks up to five minutes between his words, relaxing his throat enough to speak again, but Hyuk was patient. He knew Leo needed to get this out. “And Gdragon was talking about killing me… He kept bringing up ways for me to die to scare N, but then he brought up fire and N just… panicked.” 

Hyuk bowed his head. He remembered Ravi telling him about the three faunus’ past, how their village was burned down, how they all probably had a fire trauma somewhere, especially when the fire involved the death of a loved one. “So… they killed me.” 

“What.”

“They… well they faked killing me. But I didn’t know that and N still doesn’t know that probably. They lit me on fire. It was just a trick somehow….” Another five minute pause...  “I woke up and I was alive and in that room. And Gdragon told me he had sold N to a club, that… that I’d never see him again and that he’d be so up on drugs he’d never… never have another coherent thought in his life…” 

 

Leo had been miserable, even more so after he had spoken those words, reminded himself of the things GD had said to him about the faunus that he surely loved by now. He’d be silent for hours, even with others present in the room, then randomly ask the weirdest questions, all N related. This time was no different. 

 

“Hyuk… Do you think...  he can think straight… right now…? Do you think he’s…” Leo trailed off, seeming to be struggling with his speech again, but Hyuk was giving him props for improving so well over a short period of time. His vocal chords had been damaged, but he was recovering way faster than predicted. Hyuk was quiet for a bit before sitting on the bed beside his friend, staring out the window as well, watching the glowing orange orb rise up and above the hills of the plains they were stationed on. “He’s okay, Leo. He’s strong. I’m sure he can think straight right now.” There was silence again, but Leo slowly nodded, knowing for sure that Hyuk would answer this every time but still seeming to find relief in the same optimistic reply. “We’ll save him, hyung… We’re doing everything we can… Just trust me.”

Suddenly Hyuk’s phone started to buzz, and he dismissed himself from his hyung to answer it, figuring Leo probably needed some alone time anyway to process his thoughts. Once he was out of the room he pressed the green ‘answer’ button and pulled the phone up to his ear. 

“Hello?”

“Is this Leo?” Whoever was on the phone sounded breathless and panicked. How did they even get this number? Hyuk’s phone was a private cell that was only occasionally used for business but never for strangers. “No… This is Hyuk. What do you want from Leo?”

“You have Hongbin and Ken... “ How did this person know so much? “What about them…? Who is this anyway?” He didn’t listen, Hyuk was wondering if he could even hear him. 

“Damn it, I don’t have time for this… Tell those two that this is Baekhyun. I was taken like a year ago from the rebellion and locked into being a bodyguard. In one of my masters meetings I saw N.” Hyuk suddenly froze as he was walking the halls, quickly turning to make his way in a sprint down to Ravi’s office. “Right, Baekhyun, tell me everything.”

“H… He wasn’t himself, not at all. I don’t know what Seungri did, but everything Seungri told him to do he’d do in a heartbeat, it was scary. I needed to tell you, someone, someone who could get him out of there because N is supposed to be strong and to see him like that was…” Suddenly there was a distanced voice from the other line, a loud shouting demand that Hyuk couldn’t hear through the speaker. The male Baekhyun lowered his voice to a hissing whisper. “Damn it..! I have to go, don’t call this number back if you don’t want me to die, please help him, he saved my life!” And before Hyuk could say anything the phone clicked to silence, leaving him rushing to the cell where Ken and Hongbin were to relay the new information that this stranger had begged him to give them. 

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

N’s eyes slowly fluttered open. It hurt. What hurt…? He had to actually think about that for a few seconds, which hurt. His head hurt, it pulsed as if his brain was too big for his skull. His neck hurt, his chest hurt… And the metal on his wrists and ankles was so cold that it stung too. Wait… what…?

 

He whimpered as he realized that he was cuffed down onto a table, a bright light shining down on him. What was this…? He began to struggle, only to have a warm hand pressing softly on his shoulder. Seungri came into his vision, his face soft and concerned. “Shh… It’s okay, pet… We’ll take care of you and your friends, don’t worry…” Him… and his friends…? N slowly turned his head to see two other tables to his left, two other faunus in the same restrained position as him. Suga and Jungkook. Suga’s wrist was in an expensive looking brace, while Jungkook was on his stomach, N realizing that the masked humans, doctors, were pressing against his spine and jolting it with a machine. He turned back slowly to Seungri. “Why…?” he slowly asked, his voice rough and quiet from just waking up after being choked. Why would Seungri help them? Sure, him, but why the other two…? When did Seungri start caring? But his hair was being rustled softly, comfortingly, as the man softly replied. “Because I care about you, pet. In my anger I left you with creatures that could hurt you. It was my fault, and in my apology I’m helping your little friends.” He had never expected to hear something like that from Seungri and temporarily wondered if he was dreaming. 

“Now will you be good and take your medicine…? I’m sure you hurt. He bruised your ribs and neck really badly, and your wrist was dislocated before they pushed it back but it’ll still be sore. It’ll help you stop hurting.” He didn’t even have the energy to say no, especially because his friends were literally strapped down beside him with sharp objects within five feet that the doctors could use if Seungri demanded. So when five blue pills were handed out he slowly opened his mouth, swallowing them down with a little difficulty. Seungri smiled a gentle smile he knew he couldn’t trust, stroking N’s hair and ears softly until he fell asleep to the relaxation of the high and the feeling of Seungri’s warm hand.

 

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Bobby was found dead on the floor in the middle of the main room the next morning, and everyone knew who had done it. How could they not? With a gold plated knife stuck straight into his chest, his eyes still open and half lidded and glazed over in the way only death could bring, only Seungri could’ve done this. And suddenly everyone had a high hatred for N that Hani wished hadn’t started in the first place. He couldn’t help that Seungri treated him differently, and he definitely couldn’t have expected this. But as the body was dragged away once the guards were sure everyone had seen it, the murmurs started. “Fuck N, Bobby was just standing up for us and now he’s dead…?” “All because of that stuck up catboy….” “He’s so fucking lucky, I hate him so much…” Hani couldn’t take much more of it. She found an empty bed and curled up into it, sighing heavily. She had only woken up thirty minutes before and she was already exhausted with this day. 

 

After a two hour nap, it was time for work. She got up, got dressed, made sure her hair was styled fine, then made her way out to the floor of the club once more.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Baekhyun called you?!” Hongbin shot up from his blankets, Hyuk shocked at his sudden burst of energy in comparison to his usual moping lately. “Y.. yeah… He told me to tell you guys some things… But first, who is he?” Ken and Hongbin glanced at each other for a moment before going to the table in the corner of the cell, Hyuk following suit. They only spoke once they were all seated, Ken answering first.

 

“Baekhyun was with us in the early days, back when the rebellion was just one of those kids dreams that we had, before anyone took us seriously. We were all pretty close. He started following us around after N found his plea for help on the internet. It was crazy, N demanded we go save him and refused to care if it was a trap, and we busted down his master’s door and found him with a gun to his head. We got him out of there really fast and he stuck with us ever since until one day he just… upped and left.” Hyuk remembered back to what Baekhyun had said. ‘He saved my life.’ No wonder he cared so much about N’s apparent change of personality, he had been N’s friend in the past.

 

“He told me… He told me a lot of good information. He said that N is owned by a guy named Seungri and…” Hyuk was about to continue but the looks of shock, of fear that he was getting made him pause. “Is… Seungri bad or something?” Hongbin rested his head on the table, rubbing the backs of his striped orange ears with his hands softly, Hyuk wishing he could comfort him himself but being too far across the table from him. Ken was the one to explain. “Seungri… He’s probably the last person you’d want to be owned by… and N’s his pet… shit…” Hyuk swallowed a bit in thought of everything he had been hearing. Seungri, N’s master at the moment, was apparently a terrible person. Also according to Baekhyun N was NOT himself… meaning that the drugs were kicking in full force. “Well… We can look forward to the good news. We know who has him, so now that narrows our fifty seven clubs down to like ten. We just have to find Seungri’s main club and…”

“Lotus.”

“Huh…?”

Hongbin took a deep breath. “It’s the Lotus. We were planning on hitting there and breaking the faunus out at one point but didn’t once we realized that that was where Seungri actually lived. It’s the Lotus club in the downtown capital. That… that’s where N must be.” Hongbin seemed to be having trouble continuing in his anger, and Hyuk stood from his chair to embrace the tiger faunus softly, resting his head on Hongbin’s shoulder. “We’ll get him out then… I’ll go tell Ravi this and we’ll raid the place tonight. We’ll get him out and back here and safe and he’ll never get taken again. Trust me.” Hongbin nodded softly but didn’t seem too hopeful. Still, Hyuk had said all he could say. “I’m going to go tell Ravi now. Just wait for me, okay?” And he was hurrying back to the office, excitement pinging in his chest at the fact that they had found N possibly in time to actually save him.|


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Stop it, Hakyeon, just don’t leave me like this!”

Ravi had written down everything Hyuk had told him and immediately started to formulate a plan. By four pm, he was double checking it for mistakes. They had to be careful. While the faunus camp was illegal and could be damaged, they couldn’t get caught by Seungri. He was closer with the government then even they were as government officials. 

 

His plan was to send Hyuk and one of his most trusted soldiers into the lotus club as customers. Neither he nor Leo could do it, their faces were too well known, but someone needed to go who knew enough about N to care about him, and unfortunately none of the soldiers really did. That left Hyuk. They’d go in, scope out the area, act like normal drunkards. Meanwhile he would be doing the actual dirty work at one of Seungri’s other top rated clubs. He had literally paid three of his soldiers to go in there like crazy drunkards and start thrashing around the place, wrecking everything in sight. He’d swore to them that they wouldn’t get detained and that they’d have fun, and after fifty dollars to each man, they agreed. Seungri would probably go to calm down the commotion himself and leave the building, but he wouldn’t take N. No, N could escape if he was taken outside, and Seungri in no way would risk that, especially after he surely heard that Leo had been rescued. N would be somewhere in the building, and once Seungri was out Hyuk and the soldier would snoop around. Ravi would come in too through the back and once they found N they’d sedate him. He didn’t want to do it that way, but if Hyuk was right and he really was drugged up most of the time, they couldn’t risk him throwing a fit. They’d get him out while he was unconscious before Seungri would even know. Simple.

 

Well.. not simple. Because Ravi made plans all the time and he knew damned well that plans this intricate never went according to schedule. Something would go horribly wrong for sure, but it was the best he could do in the time he was given. Now it was time to gather the men necessary and initiate… There was no room for breaks. He’d already sent the three out to wreck the other club, and it would happen in precisely an hour. Now it was time to make their move while they could. 

 

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“Master…” Silence. N whimpered a little bit. He was cold, he was hungry. “Master… I know you’re there…” Sure enough, after a small pause, a voice echoed out from around the corner. “What, pet?” N’s spirits lifted a bit at the voice, the voice that relaxed him, the voice that comforted him. “Why are we down here…? Why am I chained like this…?” Seungri had taken them to the basement floor, and without explanation he had locked the elevator from going down there without a special keycard and chained N to the wall by both wrists, ankles, and the collar. The basement was cold and the light was off, leaving him in almost total darkness. While he could see well in the dark, it still didn’t make him feel comfortable. He wanted his master, he wanted someone… He felt so alone… He wanted someone touching him, he needed it…

 

“Because I don’t want to lose you.” Seungri’s answer just confused him further. “But you won’t lose me. I won’t leave, I don’t want to leave.” Further silence. What could his master even be doing around that corner? He could see a faint trail of light, probably from some switch in some far room, but he wasn’t close enough to even see Seungri’s shadow. “Master, please touch me or feed me or…” 

“Be quiet, pet.” And so he was, trying to keep from moving too much so that the chains wouldn’t rattle around him, instead resorting to curling up on the cold concrete floor, hugging himself and trying to get his body heat to actually warm him up. He had been given thirteen pills today. That was a lot more than last time, but he didn’t mind. He felt nice like this, relaxed like this, even if he was cold and hungry and lonely. He was happy just being in the same room as his master, knowing he was there because he could feel his presence, because he’d sometimes respond when N spoke. Everything was okay because Seungri was there. 

 

Seungri had come back around to his side, and N watched happily as he saw the familiar form moving in the darkness. The man sighed as he flipped a light switch, revealing the room much better. It was mostly empty, just concrete floors and walls and a concrete ceiling, the room being divided in half with a wall, explaining why he couldn’t see Seungri on the other side. His master paced across the room, grabbing a few things from around the wall before coming back. A thick blanket, the one from N’s cage, a pillow, a few bottles of water, and a small dog bowl filled to a form a mound with plain white rice. “I’ll be away for a while. Something has happened and I have to leave the building. My men will watch over you, don’t worry. Just take your medicine when they give it to you and be a good boy.” N found himself whimpering a little at Seungri’s words, his tail swishing back and forth in dismay. “Do you really have to leave…? Can you take me with you…? I don’t want you to go…” Seungri smiled halfheartedly, brushing his fingers through N’s soft red hair restlessly before turning towards the elevator door. “I’ll be back within a few days. It’ll be fine as long as you take your medicine and don’t act up.” He didn’t want to act up. He didn’t want to be bad. Was this a punishment again? He didn’t want that either… He just wanted his master… 

 

N watched as the elevator doors closed behind Seungri and, after a few minutes of silence, they opened again to five men with guns coming in. He knew they weren’t here to hurt him, Seungri said so, but he still wasn’t comfortable. They looked at him weird, they weren’t Seungri. He curled up into his blanket that was stained with Seungri’s mess that he had for some reason wiped off of himself a few nights before, treasuring the scent of Seungri in the fabric. He had been gone for only a few minutes now and even still he already missed him…

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Hyuk swallowed as the fancy sports car was parked, the medic staring up at the building ahead of them. It was huge, probably like a hundred stories tall. How was a nightclub of all things so big? The sun was just setting and it was already busy, the parking lot filled so that it was hard to find a good space. Hyuk wondered why the man he was sitting next to, one of Ravi’s personal friends, was so chill about this. Was he used to doing this? Going into nightclubs with unbelievably powerful owners and busting out someone under high security? Hyuk was usually excited with adrenaline rushes, but this was a bit much even for him. “Relax,” the soldier who Hyuk learned recently was named Jooheon said, chuckling a bit at the tension in the car. “You have nothing to worry about. This’ll be easy. Get in, get the faunus, get out. Simple.” He wondered why those words weren’t calming at all, but managed to get out of the car anyway, following a very confident Jooheon into the huge building that resembled a fancy hotel more than a club. 

 

It started to resemble a club again once he actually opened the thick door and was blasted with blaring music, a catchy techno remix taking him by surprise. Jooheon just strutted in like he owned the place though and Hyuk had to rush a bit to keep up as the soldier made his way to the counter, leaning over it to the cute receptionist, a blonde girl with white bunny ears. “Hey cutie, what’s your name?” The girl blushed and bowed her head, pointing shyly to her nametag that read ‘Peaches.’ Jooheon chuckled. “Fitting. Well hun, we’re new around here and I was dragging my friend to his first club ever, so how about you give him the rundown.” 

 

Hyuk was pulled up to the front and the young blonde girl smiled brightly, though he could sense that she was tired through her eyes, something probably not a lot of people (including Jooheon) cared to pay attention to. He didn’t mention that. They were on a mission, he couldn’t seem too suspicious by asking the faunus about their health. 

“Well, this is the biggest club in Crepuscule. You’ve found the right place. We have live music, as you can hear, on the first floor with a large dance floor. On the second floor is a nice restaurant with a lovely staff to wait on you. On the third floor are private service rooms. We have this flipbook here and you can pick out your own personal faunus to take care of you for the night.” She pushed a thick book forward, but her hand trembled slightly as she did so, as if she didn’t want to, as if she wanted them to not take notice. Hyuk noticed. Again, he couldn’t say much.

 

“Thank you, Peaches,” Jooheon smiled, making the young bunny faunus blush softly. She seemed very shy. “But we’ll try that another night. I think he’s already awkward enough.” He threw his thumb over his shoulder to point at Hyuk, who was too much in a daze analyzing her every movement for the endless signs of abuse to really notice that he was being talked about. “That’s alright. Would you like a meal? I can lead you to the dining room. Or if you’d like something a little more entertaining we have another room where you can eat and watch skilled dancers performing.” Jooheon pondered this for a moment before popping another smile and holding a thumbs up. “Sounds good.” 

 

Hyuk followed closely at Jooheon’s side as Peaches lead them to the elevator made of glass, where they could see everything happening below as they went up. It chimed a soft, calming sound as they reached the second floor and she seated them on a platform, bowed, then quickly hurried off. Hyuk looked down and quickly turned back to stare at the table again… He should’ve expected poles and half naked faunus, but he wasn’t necessarily prepared. “You’re too naiive,” Jooheon laughed. “Haven’t you ever been to a club before?” Hyuk pouted a bit, shaking his head. “I was too busy getting higher education, unlike someone.” The other man raised his hands in surprise. “Woah, no need to get salty. Take a chill pill. Ooh, cutie alert.” Hyuk sighed. He wondered if Jooheon was really worth anything. Ravi had said this male was one of his closest friends for years, had watched his back and taken care of him through their times in the army even before Ravi became a general, but he was so damn childish. Hyuk turned to see what he was talking about in mild annoyance to see a pretty girl with long brown hair walking up, the green streaks in her hair glowing a bit in the neon flashing lights. Jooheon only smiled brighter when she came to their table, smiling and bowing. 

“Hi! My name is Velvet. I’ll be your server today. How can I help you?” Jooheon was speechless, and Hyuk wished he’d stayed that way but then he was running his mouth again. “Oh honey you can help me,” he breathed, Hyuk kicking him under the table, making him lose his focus and kick back. The girl seemed a little amused but waited patiently. “Two waters please,” Hyuk asked before Jooheon glared him down. “Maybe for you. Bring me some vodka, I want something strong tonight.” The girl nodded and bowed, turning to leave, Jooheon watching her ass sway the entire way back to the bar. Hyuk rolled his eyes. “You’re hopeless. Do you even remember what we came here for? NOT to flirt.” Jooheon sighed dramatically. “Yeah, and how do you think we’re gonna look inconspicuous if we’re in a CLUB, not drinking, not looking at the women, and not having fun? That’s right, we’re not. Be a man for a change, get some lust in you.”

He was about to respond with the fact that it was probably more manly to have a little self control, but she was back again already, placing down a full bottle of vodka and an empty cup in front of Jooheon and a glass of water in front of Hyuk. “Can I get you anything to eat? If you’re not too hungry we do have desserts. You can find the menu in the slot underneath the table.” Jooheon was too busy downing the bottle, ignoring the cup completely, to respond, so Hyuk did it for him. “Do you have cake?” She nodded, and he noticed that her smile seemed a little more realistic now for some reason, maybe because Hyuk wasn’t just going for the booze and her body. “We have chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla cake.” 

“Chocolate please?” She nodded and bowed once more, turning and hurrying to the room he assumed was the kitchen. While she was away and Jooheon was getting drunk, Hyuk scanned out the second floor. It was huge and it was only one floor of the probably full hundred stories in the building. They were going to have a lot of grounds to search if they were going to find Hakyeon like this. He needed more information. But Jooheon was already on it. By the time she had gotten back, around five minutes later, placing the thick slice of cake down for Hyuk, he was rambling on in a slight slur. “So… so I heard right…? Hey, girl, dun leave yet, I’m talkin’ to you. So I hearddat r’bellion leader ‘s here. Dat true?” Hyuk watched carefully and caught what he wanted to see. A look of recognition flashed in her eyes, and not one of spite. This girl knew N and at the least didn’t hate him. That confirmed that he was here and that she might be able to help them. 

 

“You’re batshit crazy. He’s probably locked up in some government cell right now. What alien news channel do you even watch?” Hyuk replied, sighing heavily as if he was irritated, like this was a common occurrence when Jooheon drank.The girl seemed shocked, unsure if she should walk away now or stay, but she seemed to have bad experiences with making a poor decision so she stayed rooted at her spot. “But I wanna piece of that tho…” Jooheon groaned, leaning back indecently in his chair, finishing off the bottle in under twenty minutes. “Hun, can ya get me annoder?” The girl quickly nodded and rushed off, a little flustered. Hyuk leaned in to whisper. “Okay, well you’re probably not going to be helping me much after that, but this confirms it. She knows him and she might know where he is. What now?” Jooheon suddenly replied though very clearly. “Well we can’t straight up ask her, but we can pry. She looks new, she’s all anxious and the like. If we press her too much she won’t run to her bosses cause she won’t know what to complain over.” 

Hyuk was too busy being plain confused at his sudden change from drunk to sober. “What the fuck…?” Jooheon chuckled, pulling a similar bottle out of his bag that was full… the real vodka. “Dude, it was just white wine in their bottle, I came by here yesterday to snag one. Jeez, you think I’m an idiot, don’t you? At least you could tell by the color difference, right? Cause she couldn’t.” Silence. “Oh right, you’re like a five year old when it comes to a good time.” Hyuk sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Whatever, that doesn’t matter. When she comes back keep doing… that. Focus on your act, I’ll search through what she says.” Jooheon shrugged, glancing over his shoulder before groaning and slouching down so far he almost slipped right under the table. 

 

“Is… is he okay?” The girl named ‘Velvet’ asked cautiously as she carefully placed down the second bottle. “Should… should I give him more or…?” 

“Ey, that ain’t up to him!” Jooheon grumbled and she flinched a little, muttering a quiet apology. No matter how much of a jerk he was, he was a good actor, and Hyuk was grateful. “So tell me hun, is N really here? Iss’he up for grabs? Damn he’d be a good fuck, all sassy an’ like…” And Hyuk caught it again. This time she looked angry, just barely noticeable through her well portrayed client-face but very much there. She was close with him, at least enough to be protective over his well being. He felt like they could trust her. “Unfortunately sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the girl replied as if she were truly sorry, but it just wasn’t there. Jooheon and Hyuk shared a glance before Hyuk stood up groaning. “I can’t take this guy anymore. Can you lead me to the nearest restroom or something so I can take a breather?” She nodded quickly, seeming to want to get away from Jooheon as well. 

 

The girl lead him through the busier areas of the club’s second floor to a quieter area where only a few people sat resting off their hangovers, stopping at a small hallway with two marked doors. “Here are the restrooms, sir.” But as she turned to walk away, he grabbed her wrist, quickly mentally apologizing when she truly looked scared as he pulled her closer. “Shh, I’m not going to hurt you, please trust me,” he muttered and she nodded, but it was obvious she didn’t believe him, most of her customers probably being complete selfish assholes. It didn’t matter. He lowered his voice.

 

“You know N. I can tell. He’s here isn’t he?” Her eyes were filled with confusion, with worry, with conflict. Was he a good person to tell? Was he someone she could trust with her friend’s location? “You’ve already answered my question just by not answering,” Hyuk said and she slowly bowed her head. “I need you to trust me. I… I’m one of his friends. We’re here to get him out of this place.” And her head shot up, eyes narrowing. Hyuk suddenly realized that she might just think this is a test of her loyalty. “You… You know Leo? The general?” She carefully nodded. “He’s my friend, like one of my best friends. I’m the medic for my army. You have to believe me, Seungri’s not gonna be gone for too much longer and…”

The selling point of his argument wasn’t even a point he really thought about. The girl’s eyes went wide and she replied in disbelief. “YOU were the one who caused Seungri to rush out?” Hyuk blinked for a second but then quickly nodded. “We caused a commotion in one of his other clubs.” And suddenly the girl was pulling him further aside. “My real name is Hani, I was brought in here around two weeks ago with N and three other faunus that are our friends. He’s not doing good and I haven’t seen him since two days ago when he got in a fight with another faunus…” She hadn’t seen him for two days…? “Is that long amount of time normal?” She nodded faintly. “Yeah… Seungri usually keeps him locked up in his room on the top floor, but something’s off about this. Seungri left, so he wouldn’t keep N somewhere where he wouldn’t allow guards to go. He’d want N to be watched…” Hyuk sighed. “So where can I look…? Do you know…?” Hani slowly shook her head. “No… but my shift gets off in ten minutes. I’ll go to our friends and see if they’ve seen him around. Please, please don’t be lying to me.” Hyuk bowed holding her hands softly in his. “Thank you so much, Hani. I’ll get you out too, you and your friends.” He knew it was a bold promise to make, but if they had truly taken care of N while he was here then he was grateful enough to put that kind of effort in for her. 

 

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He knew he shouldn’t be doing this, but frankly he didn’t give a shit. No offense to Hyuk, but the medic didn’t realize that there were ways to get out of handcuffs, and Leo found himself driving to the club he had overheard Hyuk speaking of over the phone. N was there… N was there and N was suffering and N thought he was dead. He didn’t care that he was still injured, only that Hakyeon was okay. No one had told him anything, which meant that whatever he was going through had to be bad. When Leo brought up the chance of Hakyeon being addicted to the club’s drugs, Hyuk had somewhat brushed it off. Without an absolute no, Leo was sure that this was the case. He had to get N out of there before anything more happened to him. 

 

He parked in the far back, a white mask over the lower half of his face as if he were just fending off illness. Most faunus wouldn’t recognize him like this, in skinny jeans and a plain black, long sleeved shirt (to cover the bandages) compared to his normally rather formal attire. He had decided to make complete sure though before he left and grabbed a pair of scissors, saying goodbye to his shoulder length hair and getting to snipping until his hair was short and styled similar to how most younger men would have it. It was weird not having the strands dusting over his neck; it had been long for so long… But he didn’t want to risk being recognized. 

 

He held his breath as he made his way into the club, the young girl at the counter staring at him for a moment… Did she recognize him…? But then she smiled and bowed, greeting him like expected. He sighed a bit in relief. This might just work. He wasn’t just dodging being recognized by everyone there, he was also dodging being noticed by Hyuk and the soldier who was with him. That would be a problem, Hyuk would flip out that he wasn’t in bed and probably ruin their cover. So when he caught note of the two sitting at a table on the second floor he immediately made his way back down to the first. However he noticed something. Below the first floor button was another, but when he pressed it with curiosity the elevator simply beeped and refused to move. Leo then noted a keycard slot below the numbers… If N was in any room, he was sure it was one that needed the keycard. He tried floor one hundred just to test this out, sure it had some importance and, as expected, the same reaction happened. He needed a keycard if he was going to find N. 

So he did what he had to. The most reasonable way to find someone with that sort of authorization would be to wait for them to come up from the basement, which they couldn’t enter without one. The fastest way would be to do what he did. So he found a glass of something that smelled alcoholic on some abandoned table, chugged the glass, slammed it back down, and marched straight back into the back room.

 

To say the least, the faunus who were on their breaks seemed shocked. He took a glance around, but there was no N. Suddenly a beautiful woman, a fox faunus, strolled up to him with a smirk. “Sorry, baby, you can’t be in here.” Her nametag read ‘Lilac,’ and while he knew this wasn’t her actual name, he addressed her as such. “Sorry, Lilac, I’m looking for Seungri.” He was a decent actor, and while he didn’t sound shitfaced he slurred his words so that it would be reasonable that he was just like any other intoxicated customer. The fact that he was struggling to speak in general due to his fucking throat being messed up helped that. Lilac lead him out of the room, much to the appreciation of the other faunus, back into the club where she pulled him aside. “Hun, you have to be more careful. As much as I’m sure you miss him you still have very unique eyes. What if someone else recognizes you?” Leo’s eyes shot to examine hers, but the woman was just grinning broadly. “We’ve been waiting for you. N has a few friends here, as surprising as that is, and we’ve been hoping you’d come. And here you are.” Leo begged that she was trustworthy. “Lilac…”

“Hyuna…” she corrected.

“Alright. Hyuna. Where is he?” She sighed. “Your friends were asking that earlier, those two soldiers that you brought in here.” Technically Hyuk was a medic, but that didn’t matter at the moment. Hyuna was very observant, and it made him uncomfortable thinking who else might be catching on to their presence. Before Hyuna could speak again, another girl was running up to her, panting. “Suga saw a bunch of armed guards going down into the basement, we think that’s where….” The girl with green streaks in her hair then slowly froze as she realized who was standing before her, recognizing him after hoping and hoping that he’d arrive…. “Jung Leo…” she gasped. “Shh,” he growled in response. He didn’t need to be caught here, not again. His time with GD had been hell and he had to get N out before anyone with ill intent recognized him. “The basement?” He asked and she slowly nodded. “That… that brunette guy… he… he is your friend right?” Leo’s nod sent her sighing in relief. “Good, because I told him that N was here and I’m not supposed to and…”

That didn’t matter right now. “How can I get a keycard?” Leo promptly asked the two girls. Hyuna rubbed her eyes. “I mean you could take down a guard, but that would cause some problems. I don’t necessarily want to put my life on the line, but I can try and slip it out of one of the guards pockets. It would be faster and less conspicuous if I get caught doing it, they’ll just think I’m trying to escape.” Leo nodded. “Thank you, Hyuna.”

It was a terrifying wait. Hani (he found out the pomeranian faunus’ name as well) sat him at a table, telling him to pretend to just be indecisive on the menu so she’d have an excuse to not be running food at the moment. But after five minutes, Hyuna was strolling back to him, Hani rushing off with a whisper of ‘good luck’ and the fox faunus sitting in his lap.

 

What?

 

“Shh, go with it,” Hyuna mumbled, slowly stroking his neck. He was used to having long hair in the way, so it was sensitive and felt strange. “Okay, general, the card is in your back left pocket.” How did she put that there without him even feeling it…? But Hyuna continued. “He’s almost for sure in the basement, but expect armed guards when you get down there. In five minutes I’m sending your friends down after you, so if you don’t want them knowing that you’re here, be out by then. Also… You’re not gonna like what you see.” Hyuna was blunt and Leo swallowed slowly. “Seungri’s got him messed up, I’m going to be honest about that, and he’s either going to be way different from what you’re used to or in some serious pain. So get him out of here before the guards can call Seungri. Good luck.” And she was off of him, waving over her shoulder flirtatiously with her act before vanishing into the back rooms again. 

 

And he was off. Leo hurried to the elevator, knowing he was on a timer with everything he did. The guards down there would call Seungri if he couldn’t knock them out or kill them in time and the elevator would be shut off so he’d be trapped down there with N. He fumbled in his pocket for a small syringe in a plastic bag, already filled to the dose with what he needed. If he didn’t sedate N fast enough, as little as he wanted to do that, N would probably freak out and again, he’d be trapped. And if he took longer than five minutes, Hyuk and Jooheon would run down too. He didn’t care if they caught him there at this point, but they’d be just as trapped as he was if everything went wrong. And so much could go wrong so, so easily… 

 

But he was doing it. He slipped the card into the slot under the buttons and pressed the rounded circle in for the floor under the first, his nerves swaying through his body, adrenaline already pumping as he felt the elevator car running down. He’d see N again after so long, but he couldn’t get excited until he knew that they weren’t both going to die here, either that or he’d die while N was trapped as a mindless slave for the next few years until Seungri got bored and killed him. And the elevator dinged… And even before the doors were opened all the way, he was flying out. 

 

One guard down. Two before the other four had time to even process what was happening. The guns were firing. He didn’t search for N while he fought, he didn’t want to see him in whatever state he was in and get distracted. Three down now. He felt a bullet graze his arm but it was only that, a graze, and he had handled much worse. With the adrenaline flowing, he barely even felt it. Just three more to go…. 

 

And then he saw him.

 

He’d only seen Hakyeon look afraid once before, once in the years that he’d known him (whether fighting with or against him), and that was when they were on that stage, Leo being sentenced to death before his eyes. But now he looked small and terrified. He was curled back against the wall, five different chains hooking each limb and his neck to the concrete behind him as he stared up at Leo with a gaze that was hard to interpret. Did he recognize him…? He doubted that N would look scared if he did, N was brave, N was strong. But this N… this N just looked weak and terrified. 

 

And Leo cursed as he realized that in his distraction, he had hesitated just long enough for two of the enemy soldiers to grab him. He threw himself around, trying to kick, but they were strong and wearing plates over their chests and helmets to block his normally killing blows. He was restrained and the third guard was whipping out a knife. Damn it…! But his anger froze to ice when the third guard didn’t go to him… He ran to N. 

 

N tensed suddenly as there was a knife at his throat. “You dumbass, Jung Leo, we knew you’d come,” the guard sneered. “We already alerted Seungri, he’s on his way now. If you’re lucky maybe he’ll tie you up and fuck you just like this little bitch.” The rage boiled in his stomach. What had happened to N here…?! 

 

“Wh… where is master….” And once more, his anger was frozen. What…? “Where is master..?! Why are you doing this..!” N had tears slipping down his cheeks, his entire body trembling slightly. “N… Hakyeon… I’m going to get you out of here, you’ll be okay,” Leo tried to reason, even as the guards were pinning him back and pressing the knife to the catboy’s throat, but N cried harder. “I don’t want out!! I want my master..!” Leo felt his heart shattering. What… what was wrong with him…? Had they really broken him..? No, no that was impossible, N was strong, N was brave and determined and stuck up and bratty but he loved him and there was no way that N would let someone touch him like they were saying, drug him like they were saying, there was no way but… 

Ding. 

 

And all heads turned towards the elevator. Click. Click. N’s eyes lit up, the only one in the room who didn’t look cautious at the figure who had just entered. “Master!” Leo growled at N's exclamation. Seungri’s eyes were narrowed, but a small smirk was evident on his face. “You think I didn’t expect your little ruse, Leo? You thought I actually went to the other club? You’re an idiot. In fact, that whole situation was only an alarm for me to be ready for your attempt to steal my pet away.” 

“He’s not your fucking pet!” Leo growled, Seungri chuckling. “Oh right, according to the government registration, he’s your pet. What, did you get bored without him? He’s been keeping me company by the way in all the ways he probably denied you.” Seungri made his way to N, the guard backing off as he stroked the cat faunus’ cheek, N relaxing into the man’s hand much to Leo’s horror. “And look at this. Now he’s perfectly trained in the way that you could never manage, trained to be chained to me for life. Even if you did manage to take him back alive, he’d never be the same.” And suddenly Seungri was flipping out his own knife, gold plated, Leo trembling with anger and worry as he realized that N didn’t fear it at all; Even as the knife was pressing against his stomach, he cuddled up to Seungri, smiling softly in a bliss that was beyond mindless. 

 

Leo felt hopelessly trapped. Restrained by the two guards who were ready to shoot him in the head at any moment, N’s life on the line and the faunus not even caring as he was too braindead to comprehend anything other than Seungri’s presence. This had gone wrong, horribly wrong… Would they make it out of this alive…?

 

But then Leo remembered something. The sedative in his pocket… While he planned to use it on N, things had changed. He took a chance.

 

He suddenly shoved the syringe out, stabbing one of the guards and ducking just in time for the other’s fire, the stabbed man screaming as he was shot accidentally in the chest. Leo rushed out, grabbing the dying man’s gun and shooting the other guard, then the other who was rushing towards him, then aiming it at Seungri before freezing. 

 

Because the knife was buried into N’s stomach. He felt his arms running numb, his chest running cold as he watched the blood run down the hilt, dripping from Seungri’s fingers, and N only whimpering a little as he was even still curled into Seungri’s arms. “He might live through this, Jung Leo, or he may die, and it all depends on you. I can always find another pet, he’s disposable to me. So let’s play a little game.” He hated that word, the word that GD used constantly. “I’ll get him treatment and keep you in a cell, you can visit him every day and watch him riding me every morning. I’m a merciful man, I’ll keep both of you alive. Ditch your position, general, make the army surrender and give yourself up. If you’re not willing to do that then surely you don’t love him as much as you think you do.” 

 

And he was ready to do it, a tear streaking down his cheek as N swayed a little, the blood beginning to make small drips on the floor now from the knife plunged into the faunus’ stomach. If he had no other option he’d suffer, he’d rescue N another time, he’d die for him again just like he had done on that stage. He didn’t even realize that the elevator was dinging behind him until he heard Hyuk yelling at him to duck, a gun firing. 

 

Seungri fell over, a hole in his head and blood splattered on the wall behind him, but there was something more important… he had slit Hakyeon’s stomach open slightly and ripped out the knife before he was shot. The faunus coughed and blood sputtered out of his mouth, dripping down his lip as he slowly fell over. There was blood everywhere, but even as Leo rushed to him he was shoving the general away. “M.. master no…. Master wake up…” N could barely speak, probably in immense pain but he was sobbing over Seungri’s body, shaking him. “Master, don’t leave me, I can’t live without you you’re all I have, master…” Leo found himself crying as he picked Hakyeon up, the faunus begining to flail and scream at him to put him down, Leo begging him to stop struggling since it was only making him bleed faster. He was going to bleed out like this. 

 

Hyuk rushed to them and while Jooheon held Hakyeon to the floor, restraining his struggling and screaming form, Hyuk was pressing a thick cloth to Hakyeon’s cut stomach. The white fabric was dyed red in seconds and Hyuk had to change it out almost immediately. “We need to get him to a hospital, something!” When Hyuk was panicking, Leo knew that something was seriously wrong. Hyuk never panicked. They ran to the elevator, Hakyeon tight in Leo’s arms. He was still struggling, still crying, but he was getting weaker and it was evident by how his eyes were fading a little. “M… master…” 

“Hakyeon don’t close your eyes, don’t go to sleep, please.” Leo begged softly. His eyes stayed tightly shut.

“Master…”

“No, no! Open your eyes!” He slowly did this time upon Leo's harsh demand, blinking up at Leo wearily. They were running through the club, out the door, shoving through confused faunus and humans on their way out, rushing to the car. 

“Hakyeon! Eyes!” They opened again, Leo choking on a sob as he realized that Hakyeon would only listen if he was rude and demanding. “You’re… master now…?” he mumbled softly. He wanted to say no, he wanted to say that Hakyeon was free, Hakyeon was his own, Hakyeon didn’t need a master or have a master and would never have a master again, but he knew that the faunus wouldn’t react well to that in this state so he nodded. “Y… yes, Hakyeon.” 

“Master…” 

“No! Open your eyes!” he didn’t want to yell at him, but it was getting hard with how desperate he was. Hakyeon’s life was fading, he was watching it in those usually alert chocolate eyes as he himself was tearing off his shirt and pressing it to Hakyeon’s still heavily bleeding cut. 

“Master…”

“Stop it, Hakyeon, just don’t leave me like this!” Leo was sobbing now, Hyuk speeding through red lights and around traffic to get to the hospital, parking the car right up to the door as they all flooded out, Leo rushing Hakyeon into the building. 

“Master… I’m so tired... ”

“No! Don’t sleep, Hakyeon, don’t do it!”

 

“But…”

“No!!” The doctors were rushing to them once they saw what was happening and Leo refused to let him go until Hyuk was tugging on his arm, the doctors pulling Hakyeon away and Leo fighting to get to him again. 

“Hakyeon, don’t die on me!!” he was begging.

“I’m sorry… Leo…” And the general froze as he heard his name being spoken by that beautiful familiar voice, his head shooting up but it was too late. The doors to the surgery hall were slamming shut, and he couldn’t see Hakyeon, couldn’t thank him for everything, couldn’t apologize for letting him suffer like that, couldn’t tell him he loved him like he never got around to doing, that he loved him so so much… 

“He won’t die, hyung, he’s strong…” Hyuk’s voice trembled as Leo collapsed on the floor, hugging himself tightly, hyperventilating slightly. He wasn’t so sure. N had been fading from life in his arms just then. All they could do now was wait, Jooheon and Hyuk having to hold Leo down so that he didn’t rush into the surgery room to see Hakyeon again for possibly the last time.


	19. (UPDATE) Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the confusion. I accidentally posted a draft chapter from waaaaaaaaaaay later in this fic here... I hope it didn't spoil anything... I'm so dumb haha... Either way, ignore the previous chapter '19', that was a mistake on my part and probably made zero sense. This is the real chapter 19. Again, I'm really sorry.

One hour later Leo was being pulled from the floor after a nurse politely asked them to move to the waiting area as to not block traffic. Hyuk helped escort him there, Jooheon a little too shocked at what had happened, at seeing his strong general and the assertive rebellion leader both so broken. The soldier excused himself and made his way to the nearest bar.

 

Two hours passed and the waiting room was silent, all the other patients staring wide eyed at the general of the rebellion-fighting branch of the army looking so broken up over… had that been N that he’d rushed in with? For sake of rumors being dimmed down, Hyuk had asked the nurse who had sent them to the waiting room if they could have a more private room. 

 

Three hours and they were in a smaller waiting room, empty besides the medic, the general, and Jooheon, who’d come back a little tipsy but seeming better able to comprehend the situation. Hyuk realized that Jooheon probably only knew of N what the other soldiers did, only knew the side of him that killed their comrades, the side of him that was strong and bold and sassy. He was probably just as shocked as they were to have seen the N begging for a master even after he was set free again.

 

Four hours and no word about Hakyeon. Hyuk had saved his scolding of Leo getting out of bed for much, much later. Ravi was on his way with Hongbin and Ken, nobody giving a shit anymore if they were breaking government regulation. Not one of them cared about supervisor punishment or losing their jobs. They just wanted to see Hakyeon.

 

Five hours later and now the two faunus were in the room, the nurse shocked at what she was seeing with four members of the general’s army and two supposed members of the rebellion all sitting together in one room, but the young lady was understanding and didn’t pry, didn’t bring up that Hongbin and Ken were hostages, N too, that they weren’t allowed to be outside of a government issued cell. Hyuk made sure to buy her some candy from the gift shop, bowing fully as he gave her the gift in thanks for her not asking questions. It seemed like it made her day. 

 

Six hours and Jooheon was asleep, Leo still blankly staring at the same wall he was staring at three hours earlier, lost in his thoughts, trapped in his mind, in his guilt, in his fear, in his worry. Hyuk didn’t want to bother him. He made his way to Hongbin and Ken, who were sitting in chairs in the corner of the waiting room away from the other now, talking in hushed voices. Hongbin quickly wrapped his arms around the medic and Hyuk felt his heart drop even further somehow as he felt the tiger faunus’ tears staining his shirt. “Why does he have to suffer so much…?” Hongbin mumbled. They had been discussing what little things N had told them about the club he was born into, how he had to live through that tragedy again and now he may die from it. Hyuk didn’t reply. He really didn’t know the answer.

 

Seven hours and finally, finally a doctor was entering the room. The man had a mask over his face and smelled like sterility, like hospital, like the suffering and anticipative worry of all of his patient’s family and friends. Sanghyuk was glad that Leo took him into the army. He would’ve ended up a doctor otherwise. He didn’t think he could handle this lingering, overwhelming sadness on his chest at all times, feeling like the deaths of patients were his fault.

 

“Is he…?” Ken was the only one to speak, the others too speechless, too weak to even form words. And then a pause. Anticipation. Fear. The build up of not knowing whether they’d see that smile again. Not knowing whether they’d find N and Hongbin wrestling on the floor again, him and Ken laughing at each other’s jokes. Not knowing if they’d ever see N popping up in Hyuk’s office because he sprained his wrist too bad. Not knowing if Ravi would ever be able to apologize for the terrible things he did and truly, truly mean it this time. Not knowing if Leo would ever be able to get the words out that they all knew were on the tip of his tongue, those three heavy words that may never be able to be spoken….

 

“He’s alive.”

And Hyuk had figured that he’d be crying no matter what answer he got, but he was still surprised to feel a tear streaking down his cheek. It was like a collective sigh had been issued throughout the room, the pressure released, the tension dropped, the fear still evident but so much less inflicting. “He should be fine in the long run, but as you all probably know, he’s strongly addicted to the drug with the street name ‘slack.’ He also seems to be holding symptoms of fur flu, a mammal faunus-only virus that usually spawns from unsanitary living conditions. It’s not serious, and I’m sure Dr. Han here can treat it well…” All eyes were on Hyuk now and he blushed bashfully, nodding quickly to get them all looking away again. He didn’t want everyone to realize he was crying. “...But for now I’d suggest the tiger faunus here either keep his distance or wear a mask and take proper precautions to avoid becoming ill himself.” Hongbin was very obviously not going to stay away from N once he had the chance, and the doctor seemed well aware of that when he entered, pulling a white medical mask from his pocket and handing it to the tiger who quickly slipped it on. 

“But currently the patient is in stable condition. We’ve gone ahead and placed him in a room temporarily until Mr. Han determines he’s alright to go back to the government facility. I’ll lead you there.” Everyone stood quickly, everyone but Jooheon who muttered with a smile that he wasn’t so desperate to see N and would go ahead and head back to base. Hyuk thanked him for his help before they separated.

 

Hyuk was grateful that the doctors considered N’s situation and put him in a hall that was free of any other patients. When they entered the faunus was fast asleep, his crimson hair dusted over his eyes and his ears slightly ducked. An iv ran into his forearm and and small clip was on his thumb, but the heart rate monitor was beeping steadily. Leo rushed to his side, kneeling beside the bed and taking Hakyeon’s limp hand into his own two, burying his face into the faunus’ palm and just breathing, feeling his pulse, taking deep comfort into the fact that he wasn’t too late. Hongbin and Ken were on the other side of the bed, happy to see their friend again, Ken brushing Hakyeon’s hair out of his face carefully. Hyuk found himself sitting back in the side chairs with Ravi, smiling softly at the three’s comfort. Even Ravi seemed relaxed and satisfied with the situation, the assistant general already resting his head back against the chair, attempting to get some much needed rest after all night of research on Leo and N’s situations. Hyuk was grateful and would tell him once he woke up; If it weren’t for Ravi’s skilled planning, neither of the two leaders would be free right now. 

 

Another hour passed, but no one was bored and no one wanted to leave. Leo was resting his head on the bedside, holding N’s hand before he felt the fingers flinch, then slowly curl around his hand. The general glanced up to see Hakyeon’s eyes squeezing shut, then slowly flickering open. “Hakyeon..” he breathed, quickly standing and hugging the faunus softly but tightly. He felt slow, unsure arms curling around him. “Leo…? But… no…” He pulled away upon hearing Hakyeon’s confusion, the other analyzing his face with a stressed expression. “You’re… you’re dead…” Oh right… “No, Hakyeon, I didn’t die.” 

“But I was there…” the faunus seemed a little wary, as if he were thinking he was dreaming. So Leo got to explaining. He explained the whole situation on his side, how GD lied to trick N, how GD kept him until Ravi saved him. N’s expression was growing more and more shocked as the story went on until Leo stopped at Ravi coming to get him out… and then he was throwing himself up to hug Leo much, much tighter than before. 

 

N was in tears, but that was to be expected, and not a single person in the room judged him for it as he sobbed into Leo’s shoulder, letting out the pain he had been feeling. The guilt, the hopelessness, letting it all out in Leo’s arms. “I was so scared…” he cried. “I was so scared I had lost you forever, I was so scared…” It wasn’t like N to admit something like that but no one brought it up, the other four awake members in the room simply smiling at the sight. “No, I’m here, Hakyeon, I’m still here and I’ll never let them take you again.” Leo’s words were firm and honest and suddenly N was pulling away from Leo just enough to bring his face closer.

 

And they were kissing, deeply but innocently, not seeming to notice or care that there were eyes on them watching in shock. Leo curled his arms around Hakyeon, planning on never letting go if he could help it, Hakyeon’s arms locking around Leo’s neck. And once they finally, finally parted their lips Hakyeon was laughing, laughing with joy and relief, and Leo was smiling too brighter than Hyuk had ever seen from him. Leo wrapped his fingers around Hakyeon’s bruised neck and fumbled with his collar before he was slipping the thing off, Hakyeon rubbing his neck softly as he realized that this was the first time it had been completely free of a collar in over half a year. “You’re free, Hakyeon.” The catboy laughed, shaking his head. “You don’t have that kind of authority, you idiot.” He was himself again.

 

“Actually, according to the documents, I was your owner. And I’m setting you free. You’re your own and no one will ever own you again.” Hakyeon’s smile slowly faded, but not with sadness, simply with shock, realizing that Leo actually fully meant what he said. Free… He was free… It had been what he had been fighting for for his entire life and now… And he was kissing Leo again, his smile so bright and full that he could barely keep his lips together, and their kiss was more of the two smiling against each other’s lips, embracing each other with the love they hadn’t been able to express like this before. 

 

“Uuuggghhh, you guys are groooossss,” Ken groaned but he was happy, they all were. “Then close your eyes,” N laughed at his friend, decidedly kissing Leo even deeper as if just to annoy the shark faunus. Hyuk grinned broadly before standing himself, giving Hakyeon a hug, then exiting to speak to the doctor about taking Hakyeon back to the base. It was time for him to go home. In the meantime, Hyuk had a promise to fulfill.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Don’t worry so much,” N scowled playfully as Leo tried to help him walk, which he ended up needing as he stumbled the moment the general pulled his hands away. “See? I told you,” Leo muttered under his breath, N flicking his tail a little in mock irritation. “I’m fine!” 

They ended up making it to Hyuk’s office without having an incident, Leo eventually just scooping N up and carrying him there while he playfully struggled until he pulled open a few of his stitches on accident and curled up in pain in the general’s arms. “Damn it, look what you did,” Leo mumbled, N gasping a little in pain as he clutched his stomach, Hyuk rushing to his toolbox to prepare some more medical string to re-lace the stitches. Leo stroked N’s hair and held his hand as the needle sewed in and out of the skin around the deep gasp, frowning as the faunus’ eyes squeezed shut and he writhed a little at the sensitive skin being pierced. “Hyuk, could you hurry a little..?” Leo asked protectively, not liking seeing N like this. The medic rolled his eyes. “I’m doing the best I can.” 

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

 

It had been two days since they left the hospital, and Leo walked into Hyuk’s office to see something that he unfortunately remembered was to be expected. N was curled up on the medical bed, gasping and whining as he held his head in his hands, clawing at his messy hair. “Make it stop,” he begged, but Hyuk was just stroking his back. “It’ll end soon, but I can’t give you any more pills or you won’t improve…”

“I don’t care about improving..! Please…!” He wanted to turn around and walk out just as much as he wanted to be right there forcing Hyuk to just make it better. This was the withdrawal he had been told would come. But Hyuk noticed him before he could decide and mouthed ‘help me’ with pleading eyes… so he made his way in and sat on the edge of the bed, replacing Hyuk’s hand with his own. 

“Hakyeon…”

“It hurts… Leo it hurts…” he sobbed, tense and fighting when Leo pulled his hands away from his head and held them in between his own. “Shh, you’ll tear out your hair like that,” he muttered. “I don’t care…” came the muffled response, N smacking his face into the pillow. “It hurts…”

“I know, baby.” Leo and N both froze for a moment at that name. Had he just said that…? Leo glanced quickly to Hyuk, but the other SEEMED distracted with searching for some painkillers in his cabinet… He was probably just faking it, but Leo could hope it went unnoticed. However N seemed to relax a bit after Leo’s words, and the general started to stroke gently through his crimson hair, rubbing the backs of his ears, the action seeming to calm N down a little. 

 

Finally Hyuk came back with a bottle. “I’m pretty sure he can have this with the medicine he’s already on.” Leo nodded and held out his hand, Hyuk dumping two small white tablets in and Leo holding them up to N’s mouth. “Here, take these,” he offered. He was nonetheless surprised when N legitimately ate them out of his palm rather than picking them up. It seemed to be a habit, and he wondered if Seungri made him do that. He had wished Hyuk hadn’t shot the man so he could beat him to death for what he had done to Hakyeon. At least he still had GD he could kill, but for now he had better priorities; making Hakyeon feel comfortable again.

 

The painkillers were working, and soon he was back to laying on the bed, Leo having climbed up to lay beside him. They stayed like that for hours, laying in each other’s arms; They’d discovered that Hakyeon couldn’t sleep without having intense nightmares, not even with sleeping pills, but if Leo was touching him he didn’t have a problem at all. Hyuk allowed Leo to sleep in the bed with N for that reason only, though he still scowled that it was unsanitary at the general when he did it. 

 

Suddenly there was a faint buzzing noise. Hyuk checked his phone and his expression grew to shock, then to a bright smile before he was hurrying to the door. “Just where are you going?” Leo asked with an eyebrow raised. Hongbin didn’t have a phone, and that was the only person Sanghyuk would be so excited to see out of nowhere like this. “You’ll see, hyung, just wait,” Hyuk replied quickly, enthusiastic like a child, before rushing out of the office.

 

“Hm..?” Hakyeon was awake, probably disturbed by Leo’s shuffling. The general stroked through his hair again. “It’s nothing, go back to sleep.” But Hakyeon shook his head. “Not tired an’more.” He was cute when he first woke up, his words a little slurred. Leo smiled, pulling Hakyeon closer to him, the cat faunus resting his head on the human’s shoulder. “It’s hot,” he mumbled and Leo threw off the blanket, N rolling his eyes. “You’re hot,” he corrected.

“Thank you.” Leo chuckled as he was shoved off of the bed, N scowling down at him for the horrible joke, the general climbing up off the floor and pecking Hakyeon softly on the lips before making his way to the other side of the room, preparing some oatmeal that Hyuk had stored for Hakyeon’s meals. He wasn’t supposed to eat solid food yet, so pretty much every meal was soup or oatmeal. “Are you hungry?”

“For actual food or complete garbage? Two different answers.” N’s sass made him roll his eyes. “I’m gonna take that as a yes,” Leo replied before popping the bowl of oats and water into the microwave and leaning against the wall.

 

Suddenly the door was opening again, Hyuk strutting in looking unbelievably full of himself. “I have a surprise for you~” he said sweetly, too sweetly, N and Leo exchanging glances before the faunus tilted his head. “Chicken?” he asked hopefully. Hyuk laughed. “You’re going to be on soft food for the next month, don’t get your hopes up.” Hakyeon grumbled. It was worth a shot. “But it’s even better than that. Are you ready?”

Hyuk took their silence as a ‘yes.’ “Come in guys!”

 

And N’s eyes slowly widened. Momo was the first to rush in, quickly hurrying to his bed and hugging him tightly. “M.. Momo?!” Hyuk smiled as next was Jungkook with a broad grin on his face, then Suga, then….” N felt the fourth pair of arms curl around him, feeling smothered with love but so unbelievably happy that he didn’t even care. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” Hani smiled cheerfully. They were all for the first time since N had seen them completely clean, wearing their own style of clothing and everything and, to N’s surprise, no collars on any of their necks. “Y.. you’re all… but how?!” 

 

“Sanghyuk-hyung promised Hani that he’d free us too the night that they found you,” Jungkook explained with a smile. “We thought it was just an empty promise but the other day he came in and got all huffed up at the government officials who were marking us down for our new owners. It turned out that Seungri had us all illegally, so Hyuk got away with putting us under his name then setting us all free.” It was like a dream. Hakyeon was here with Leo who loved him back, with Hongbin and Ken, with Hyuk and Ravi who took care of him, and now all of his friends that took care of him in that terrible place were here as well?

 

They all chattered for hours about the dreams and aspirations that they’d never thought they’d get the chance to go through with. Jungkook wanted to be a police officer, a dream that he had kept since he was young. “Maybe someday I’ll be able to get paid the same as a human, too, maybe I’ll even join the army and be a general like Leo!” The actual general smiled faintly, shy to strangers but still kind. They cared for Hakyeon, he was grateful for them. “If you apply I’ll put in a good rep for you,” Leo muttered and Jungkook cheered. Suga wanted to explore the world, to find these places that supposedly didn’t discriminate against faunus and maybe settle down there. Momo dreamed of working at a maid cafe. “I KNOW it SOUNDS bad, but I really like dancing and singing and dressing up and making people happy,” the girl explained. “If I go with Suga and work at one in those other countries then no one will be mean to me either.” Hani explained that she wanted to find her friend Solji again, that she’d be putting all her effort into that then deciding with the other girl what she’d do from there. 

 

They talked and talked until the sun was setting in the window and Hyuk was rushing them out, telling them that N was due for medicine fifteen minutes ago and that if they didn’t want him to start having an issue they’d have to give him some space. But the catboy was happy, and because Hakyeon was happy, Leo was happy. Everything felt so safe, so perfect. 

 

Leo had made some changes while Hyuk was caring for Hakyeon. Him and Ravi worked together to inform the soldiers that the faunus were to be treated equally, and if any of them gave a shit about that they could get their asses out. A few soldiers did leave, but most stayed, just surprised at the sudden decision. Hongbin and Ken were given an actual room. Since a few soldiers had left upon hearing the new rule, there were enough dorms in the barracks available for the four newly arrived faunus to stay there as well. Hakyeon decided that he wanted to stay in Leo’s room, and Ken and Hongbin still hadn’t stopped joking about it. 

 

But it felt happy, like family. No collars, no leashes, no abuse, no discrimination. The base was their sanctuary from the real world, from the country of Crepescule that demanded that these people be enslaved just because their genes were a bit different. That night N snuck out of the medical ward and crawled into Leo’s bed, curling up beside him and kissing him softly on the cheek. “Haggyeon..?” he groaned, his words a little slurred as well. “You didn’t come visit me before you went to sleep,” the other quietly scolded. Leo sighed before rolling over, picking up the faunus and placing him on his stomach, Hakyeon laying there and resting his head on Leo’s shoulder. “Is this better then?” the general asked. N smiled softly, closing his eyes and feeling himself already slipping into sleep. “Yeah… this is better.” 

A few minutes passed in silence, but Hakyeon could feel from Leo’s breathing that he wasn’t asleep. “Hey Leo?” 

“Mmh..?” He smiled, his tail swaying a little as he cuddled up on Leo’s chest, feeling happier and safer than he had felt in his entire life. “I love you.” Warm arms were curling around his body, pressing him closer and soft lips were pressing against his head. “I love you too. I love you so, so much.” And they fell asleep like this, laughing in the morning when Hyuk was banging on the door, telling Hakyeon to get his ass back to the medical ward before he got Leo’s dirty germs in his wound.


End file.
